Fight For Survival
by elfmaiden4legs
Summary: Logan's healing ability is failing, and sickness takes hold. The other X-Men are concerned, yet he insists that he's OK! But when Logan comes off worse during a battle with Magneto, will they be able to help him before it's too late?
1. Chapter 1

**PROLOGUE**

**_OK so I know it's been a while! Alright an AGE since I removed this, and although it's not yet complete I have edited it, so hopefully this should now be up to scratch, and I simply had to find out what you think! I will try to update when I can, so please be patient with me (I know you usually are), and I'd love to know what you think! So please don't forget to REVIEW! Enjoy! :D_**

Logan felt tired, no naturally tired as he descended the stairs to the lower floors of the mansion late one morning, but weak and drained. He had been early to bed and late to rise recently as his mutation fluctuated dangerously leaving him feeling nauseous and fatigued. Never knowing what it was to experience a sick day in his life before he had been somewhat anxious to suddenly find himself afflicted with the unexplained and concerning loss of his healing abilities now… and the fact that his absence had not remained unnoticed by his fellow housemates at Xavier's school for gifted youngsters had only succeeded in adding further to his symptoms. There had been no discernible explanation for his condition, although at first Logan had struggled to convince himself that it would all pass in time.

He paused briefly at the bottom of the staircase as he observed the empty corridor stretching out before him. Breakfast had already been served and for most had finished hours ago, meaning that most of the students had since dispersed into their various classrooms by the time Logan cautiously came to enter the kitchen a moment later. Driven by an overpowering thirst he immediately made his way over to the fridge, grabbing himself a cold beer from the top shelf as he did so before the audible sound of footsteps echoed across the varnished tiled floor as somebody entered purposefully behind him.

"So you've finally emerged." Storm spoke disapprovingly as she aimed a condescending look in Logan's direction. "You were meant to be overlooking a danger-room session over an hour ago."

"So? Sue me." Logan responded resentfully, struggling to tear the cap from his beer as he directed a warning glare at her before turning away evasively – he'd never had any problems performing such inconsequential physical tasks before.

"Need any help with that?" She asked him at last as she continued to observe him struggling relentlessly with the dew tinted bottle, it's shimmering glass slipping continually through his fingers.

"I can manage!" He snapped, frustration beginning to show in his voice as he suddenly sliced his finger on the jagged metal cap, almost losing grip of the bottle entirely. "Shit!" He gasped as the blood began to flow.

Storm immediately closed the gap between them. "Are you alright?" She asked, her previous hostility towards him replaced by prominent concern.

"Fine!" He snarled in response, his desire to be alone finally beginning to show through. "It's just a cut, it'll heal!" His demeanour was sharp and he hadn't meant to come across as so harsh, but even so he breathed a sigh of relief as it became evident that his rather over forceful tone had had the desired effect.

"I have a class to get to." Storm revealed at last, eyeing her watch in casual gesture for a moment before turning to aim a final questioning glance in Logan's direction. "Will you be joining us for your session later?" She asked.

"Maybe." He replied vaguely, hardly registering her contemptuous expression as she turned and walked reluctantly away, the sudden silence an almost immediate relief to his throbbing head and ears.

… The calm didn't last long however, as with a sudden jolt of sharp pain to his finger he looked down to see blood oozing from the raw flesh of the wound. An unfamiliar terror immediately struck him as he dejectedly realised that his healing factor had failed him yet again, and, despondently discarding his untouched beer he set off to find a bandage to bind the wound himself.


	2. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER 1**

As Jean wandered the mansions corridors a few hours later, looking for Logan, she encountered Storm returning from her final class before lunch. He young blonde was, by now, quite ready to spend the rest of the afternoon winding down after her rather unpleasant encounter with their hostile companion earlier in the day. Appearing to be in a mind of her own and passing Jean by inattentively as she failed to notice her young friend beside her, before the sound of a gentle voice spurred her back to reality with a somewhat sudden shock.

"Hey," The young red head smiled warmly as she approached her colleague, "have you seen Logan?"

Storm glanced at her watch momentarily before responding to Jean's questioning gaze. "He should be in a danger room session by now." She explained, although very much doubting that given his more recent track record this would be the case.

She knew that she hadn't been the only one to notice Logan's distinct lack of consideration for the rest of them recently, nor the fact that he appeared to be spending more and more time alone. But so far nobody had summoned the nerve to raise the issue with him, all fearing his response, or that he may retreat even further into himself if they did.

As Jean looked vaguely frustrated, and Storm decided that it was best not to continue down this current line of conversation but try and steer it in what she perceived to be in a slightly safer direction. "Is there anything I can help you with?" She asked finally.

"No… I'm sure it's nothing." Jean replied, directing an apprehensive smile in the way of Storm before, noticing that her forced assurance seemed to have little influence over her friend, continuing with open and very prominent concern. "He's just been so quiet lately… he still hasn't filled in the admin sheets and the report cards for the

Ethics lesson he covered for Xavier a few days ago, it's not like him to take such a passive interest in the student's progress."

"Maybe he's just going to need time Jean." Storm struggled to come up with a convincing line of conversation to follow in light of her own growing concerns, the words flowing from between her lips a little too hastily for her lagging mind to keep up and she had to pause in order to compose herself before continuing. "Logan has always had a tendency to spread himself dangerously thin to the ground for as long as we've known him. He pushes himself harder than any other single individual Xavier has ever encountered, often too hard. It's likely that he's just worn himself out."

"No… I don't think it's that." Jean shook her head disbelievingly, convinced that there was far more to be said than Storm was currently letting on. "There's something else he's not telling me." She revealed. "I can sense it."

"Well maybe _I_ could help you with the admin sheets for now?" Storm offered, grateful for the distraction from her own concerns for Logan, at least for the current moment.

Jean considered this offer for a moment, "No… it's alright, I'll catch him later." She smiled appreciatively in response, patting Storm obligingly on the shoulder before turning to leave.

"Jean." Storm called to her before she disappeared. "It'll be OK you know."

Jean faltered, turning to glance once more in Storm's direction before they both went their separate ways, "Yeah, I know." She replied, wishing only that she could believe that fact as Storm disappeared into the staff room, before she herself turned tale and continued disconcertedly towards the lower recesses of the mansion.


	3. Chapter 3

**Heya all, well Chapter 2 is now up! I hope you enjoy, and please don't forget to REVIEW! Oh and please do also REVIEW Chapter 1! Thanks!**

**CHAPTER 2**

As Jean descended the staircase to the ground floor, approaching the communal lunge a few moments later, she was surprised to discover the figure of Rogue reclining on the large padded sofa in the centre of the room, her feet spread contentedly across all three seats as she closed her eyes against the raucous sounds emanating from the wide screen television before her. She stirred slightly as Jean entered, opening her eyes gradually against the harsh light of day before the older woman's shadow moved benevolently before her for an instant, easing her vision somewhat as the young red head's gracious features finally came into focus.

"Jean," Rogue smiled pleasantly as she caught sight of her, "I'm sorry did you need me for anything?"

"No, you're alright." Jean replied, returning the young girl's gesture before continuing. "Shouldn't you be in a danger room session with Logan about now?" She asked, glancing over at the clock on the mantle piece.

"I was." Rogue explained, gently sliding her long, slender legs over the edge of her seat as she propped herself heavily up against the arm of the chair in an instant, "We all were, but he cancelled the session early."

Jean frowned, her expression full of concern as she eyes Rogue questioningly for a moment, encouraging her to continue.

"He's been quite lenient on us rather frequently lately." Rogue revealed after a faltering pause in response to Jean's searching look. "It's not like him… the others seem to be of the opinion that it's rather refreshing to only be expected to work at a level three when we're so used to being pushed by Logan to complete advanced level six simulations, but there's something not quite right about it if you ask me." She concluded at last. "He seems so much older lately."

"Storm seems to be of the opinion that he just needs time." Jean suddenly scoffed uncharacteristically, her anxiety manifesting as her frustrations finally began to get the better of her.

"Time? Time for what?" Rogue asked. "And you're obviously not so sure?"

"I don't know what to think anymore." Jean sighed. "Just gather the students together and meet me downstairs in ten minutes," She added, "I'm going to oversee this class myself."

"But where are you going?" Rogue suddenly enquired as Jean began to make her way in the direction of the door.

"To find Logan." She explained, a little harsher than she had initially intended, before she disappeared down the hallways and back up the stairs towards Logan's room, her footsteps fading quietly as she went.


	4. Chapter 4

**I would like to thank everybody who has reviewed for being so possitive about my work! Thanks for your patients guys! I do have other fictions on the go at the same time, and so I can't dedicate all of my writing time to this one alone, I write for whereever my muse takes me! As a result it may sometimes take me a very long time to complete a articular story, or, on occassion, for this very reason, not very long at all! I don't like to force my writing, as this often proves detremental to the quality of my work! Although I always do my best to complete any story which I have started! Enjoy! Oh, and as usual please do REVIEW!**

**CHAPTER 3**

It took a while for Logan to respond as Jean wrapped persistently on his bedroom door a short while later. His head was still pounding from his earlier session in he danger room with Xavier's students. The cut on his hand starting to sting uncomfortably again with the introduction of fresh water into the wound as he emerged groggily from the shower to the soft scent of the woman he loved, standing impatiently on the other side of the varnished wooden wall.

"Why did you cancel the session with the students early today?" She asked anxiously, the sharp click of her heals against the tiled floor as he answered the door.

"Well hello to you to sweetheart." He smiled sarcastically, the expression only slightly altering his already troubled features in guarded response.

"Logan?" Jean suddenly snapped, her cause immediately becoming even more pressing as she struggled to get him to open up to her.

"They're not kids anymore Jean." He immediately shot back. "They don't need me to baby sit them. Besides they seemed to be getting on perfectly alright on their own."

"That's because they need to be challenged Logan." She explained. "You're their teacher… you're meant to push the, stretch them, and when they can't fight anymore prove to them what you know they are capable of… giving them stage three simulations to tackle when you know full well that they are capable of so much more isn't like you…" She insisted, pausing briefly before continuing. "It's underestimating their abilities and…"

"I'm not their teacher." Logan suddenly growled, cutting her off mid flow as he aimed an angry glare in her direction. A glare which Jean realised was nothing more than a defence mechanism, designed to shroud his true emotions and prevent her from reading his mind – the faint flicker of pain immediately visible within his distracted expression before suddenly it was gone and Logan continued ill-temperedly. "I'm just a sub."

"Why are you doing this?" Jean demanded, her own anger beginning to surface now as she struggled to control her temper.

"Doing what?" Logan asked.

"Why do you keep pushing me away? You haven't been yourself for over a week now Logan, everybody's noticed it. Why won't you just open up to me? Tell me what's been bothering you." She pressed.

"I'm fine." Logan sighed insistently, before turning away.

"Don't keep turning your back on me." Jean pleaded as she grasped him firmly by the hand, observing as he flinched noticeably from the sudden contact, before snatching his palm away from hers, face suddenly pale as he aimed a threatening look in her direction.

"Don't do that again." He snarled.

"What's happened to your hand?" Jean asked, ignoring what she knew to be just yet another empty threat.

"Nothing… I'm fine." He muttered.

"Logan…"

"Just leave me alone Jean."

"No… I'm afraid I can't do that." She immediately glared in his direction, their eyes meeting for a moment as she struggled to hold back the tears now threatening to spill over her pale cheeks. His pain was so real, his fear so intense, she could sense that now despite his reluctance to open up to her… but there was little else she could do for the moment, reluctantly thinking of the class she had yet still to get to.

"I said just leave me alone!" Logan suddenly erupted, repressing the desire to extract his claws in blind rage as he began to manhandle her out of the room, forcing her from his bedroom with one extraordinary shove before slamming the door closed behind her.

Outside Jean stood alone for a while, brushing her anxious tears away before they had the chance to settle against her skin. There was nothing more to be done now as she slowly made her way back towards the meticulously carved and varnished staircase, descending it' steps reluctantly as she made for the direction f the danger room below.

Meanwhile, as Logan lay with his back pressed against the matrise in his room, chest heaving from the sudden exertion, he grabbed a pillow from beside his head and positioned it gently beneath his throbbing cranium – guilt rising in his heart as he was suddenly hit with the reality of what he had just done.

Although what Logan didn't realise as he began to close his eyes against the cloud of encroaching sleep, exhaustion finally taking it's toll, was that things were going to get a whole lot worse for him before they were going to get any better, and that the pain he was experiencing now was nothing compared to that which would be coming his way during the fateful events of the next few days…


	5. Chapter 5

**CHAPTER 4**

Although still feeling somewhat lethargic Logan struggled to instil some sense of normality back into his life over the following few days, rising early I order to share breakfast with the rest of the school and struggling through more advanced danger room sessions in order to alleviate the attention being directed at him by some of his more concerned colleagues. Rather than feeling depleted however his appetite appeared to be boundless, as his ability to heal himself grew weaker with each passing day – his body needing to extract critical energy from other sources as it struggled to keep up with his immune system's sudden demand for nutrition, and he suddenly found himself easting more than enough food for two fully grown men. (Bringing at least half of his stomach contents back up by the end of most evenings as his digestion struggled to cope with the inevitable overload of food.)

Despite this however, far from arousing the others suspicions, they appeared clearly all too relieved to see him eating again in order to notice the significant toll which the frequent vomiting was beginning to take on him, and apart from still struggling to abandon his early to bed routine – often too tired to do much else but sleep by the approach of early evening – he appeared well on the road to recovery… Only to Professor remained quietly unconvinced by Logan's lonely charade, and it would take literal moments for his mounting concerns to come to a head during the devastating events of the fateful few days ahead.


	6. Chapter 6

**CHAPTER 5**

As Logan made his way steadily along the corridor towards the danger room a number of days later he sighed heavily at the intense feeling of nausea beginning to swell in his stomach. The five slices of amply buttered toast which he had prepared for his breakfast, coupled with two glasses of orange juice, three apples, and the bowl of mallow cereal which he had only recently devoured were beginning to lie rather unsettlingly along his digestive track and he swallowed hard, resisting the urge to make an urgent detour towards one of the mansions many communal bathrooms as he descended the staircase towards the lower recesses of the building.

He had been initially relieved that he had not been asked to sub yet another difficultly scheduled class for Professor Xavier that morning. However, as the increased level of food intake began to make a dramatic improvement to his recently weakened physical state, he had found that his aching to visit the danger room was all too overpowering that morning, and for the first time in days the prospect of yet another danger room session to himself exhilarated him. Reawakening his senses as he felt his muscles – beginning to prepare himself for the strain of the challenge ahead – tense in anticipation.

As he entered the darkened chamber he paused for an instant as he heard the door slide shut behind him, before the lights ignited themselves, filling the changing room with an unnaturally florescent glow. He stood in silence for a few moments, taking in the sweaty and stifling atmosphere after another session earlier that morning, before making his way slowly over to the many crystal glass cabinets situated against the wall on the opposite side of the room – intending to slip into something a little more practical for the exercise he was about to undertake.

However, as he carefully unlocked one of the many secure storage cupboards an immediate buzzing inside his head told him that something more pressing may be about to unravel itself. Forcing him to abandon any hope he may have had of being able to loose himself in the excitement and adrenaline of simulated battle – at least for the moment – as Professor Xavier's voice rang out in his ears.

"Logan, meet me in my office in five minutes, it's important."

… Before the sensation had disappeared as suddenly as it had occurred, and Logan regretfully resealed the glass door before him, listening intently to the monotonous drone of the electronic doorway as he slowly left the unlikely comfort of the danger room behind him, making his way back upstairs towards Professor Xavier's office, and the situation which was all about to unfold.


	7. Chapter 7

**CHAPTER 6**

Over half an hour passed and Professor Xavier was still briefing the small gathering of staff, who had promptly assembled in his office, as to the true extent of the situation. Apparently after many weeks of nothing Magneto's presence had been detected only a few miles East of the mansion, and now, as this new rather unexpected development began to sink in, everyone present waited intently to hear any suggestion as to what should be done next, as Logan sat alone, eyeing the rest of the group wearily from across the opposite side of the room.

"Magneto's held up at an abandoned ammunitions factory about a two hour drive from here." Xavier explained at last. "The signal I received from Cerebro was surprisingly strong. The residual metal left over from when the factory closed down is feeding him just the correct level of magnetic energy he thrives on, concentrating the effects of his mutation. It's bound to be only a matter of time before he reveals himself to the rest of the human race."

"Then we must stop him now." Scott suddenly interjected. "If confrontation is inevitable it's better that it happens sooner rather than later, before more innocent lives can be lost."

"I admire your sentiment Scott but it's not likely to be that easy anymore." Xavier sighed gravely in response. "Magneto's stronger this time round, and cleverer. It wasn't coincidence that he chose to set up his new hideout where he did."

"But surely we still have the element of surprise on our side?" Storm summarised, turning to each of her colleagues in turn before her eyes eventually settled upon the Professor's sombre expression. "Magneto can't possibly realise that we know the bearings of his current location."

"I suspect that he probably does." Xavier replied, his tone distinctly severe, before continuing. "That was possibly his likely intention from the start. But you're right, we have to act fast. The only question we need to ask ourselves now is what is to now be done with this new information."

"Well I'm afraid I cannot see that we have much time on our side." Jean explained. "I agree with Scott, if confrontation is inevitable I don't think that we have any choice but to act. If Magneto's already revealed himself to the world once, that can mean one of only two things. Either his becoming careless in his new state of social deprivation, or his confidence is increasing… and I wouldn't bank on the first instance being the case of our current dilemma."

"Yes… I'm afraid that you're right Jean." Professor Xavier sighed at last, his hands cupped together in grave contemplation. "There really doesn't appear to be any other way forward for us, at least for the moment." He concluded finally, as with that the meeting was brought to an abrupt and uneasy end.

"I'll prepare the Jet." Logan volunteered, rising somewhat uneasily to his feet as all eyes immediately turned to him in a moment, as his colleagues began to file rather reluctantly from the room. Professor Xavier frowned with obvious concern at the sight of the wearied man standing before him.

"Logan are you sure you're up to this?" He enquired cautiously. "I've been sensing that you haven't been feeling quite yourself lately."

"I'm fine." Logan, who had been feeling surprisingly relaxed up until now, suddenly snapped. "Just stay out of my head Professor." He warned, as suddenly he stormed from the room, trailing after the others, before slamming the door shut behind him.


	8. Chapter 8

**CHAPTER 7**

**Heya all, thanks for being so patient with me, I know it's been a very long time since I last updated this. But thank you all for the continued reviews... this at least lets me know that you are all still interested in where this is going and what I am writing! As usual, I will try and post the next chapter as soon as I can, and plase don't forget to REVIEW! :D**

Several hours later the X-Jet was brought to a steady standstill at the new and isolated location as Jean, at the controls, turned to glance with concern in the direction of where Logan was currently sitting, just a few seats behind her. Although he had shown no outward sign of tiring during the hour long journey out from the mansion to where Magneto was held up at the abandoned ammunitions factory, the entire team had seen fit to keep a close eye on his all the same, given Logan's apparent reluctance to open up to them about what had been truly bothering him lately.

Even Scott had apparently eased up on his rival; recently, after noticing him standing in the doorway to his bedroom a few days previous, rubbing his wrists and finger joints gingerly as though in a bid to ease some pain. This brief influx of thought however was interrupted suddenly as Storm unfixed her seatbelt from it's clip and headed for the door, the others immediately following her lead.

"You know the drill." The young blonde spoke to them all evenly. "Never let your guard down, nobody is to go off alone… and let's just hope that we're not too late!"

"Hang on, who put you in charge all of a sudden?" Scott immediately interjected, his masculine sense of pride overriding his capacity for reason and logic.

"I don't know about you shades." Logan spoke, addressing Scott as he pushed his way past on his path from the Jet. "But I for one can't wait to get my claws stuck into some action again… It feels a long time since I've worked up a real sweat." He explained, withdrawing his claws on impulse as he felt the renewed sense of adrenaline now coursing through his veins, regretting it immediately however as burning pain suddenly irrupted up though his arms, making him flinch involuntarily… although he was relieved to see that nobody appeared to have noticed as he closed his eyes against the sudden ache igniting his bones.

"Logan!" Strom suddenly cut in, making him turn abruptly. "We're a team. We stick together!"

At this their gaze met for an instant, Logan quite ready to overrule her self imposed authority, before he noticed her expression, eyebrows set high and unwavering, determined on her forehead. H sighed in his resignation, frustration evident, although he wasn't in the mood for a fight with his colleagues, reluctant in his present condition to draw any unnecessary attention to himself… and so he calmly made his way back to join the small group, who were now steadily filing our from the X-Jet, assembling on the industrial concrete below.

Suddenly however as Jean, last to join them, stepped off the metallic steps at her feet, beside Scott, Logan froze as he felt a strange magnetic thrill pass through him for an instant before, without warning, it was gone.

"What is it?" Jean asked him as she noticed the look of immediate anticipation pass over his face.

"We're being watched." He warned them. "Magneto's close. Stay alert, I have a feeling that he won't have come here alone."

As if on cue a group of whom, at initial glance appeared to be mature teenagers, suddenly appeared from various concealed locations about their landing base. However on closer observation it became apparent that several members of this unlikely alliance could have easily passed for their early if not mid twenties.

"So much for arriving undetected!" Strom muttered under her breath, rolling her eyes despairingly at the sight of the group now advancing towards them.

"They're just kids." Scott observed, standing his ground as he noticed the differing forms of from front line of young mutants; a girl and three boys. All of whim he couldn't place beyond nineteen years of age, leading at least five others into what was effectively to become a battle ground, as though they were involved in nothing more than a friendly game of toy soldiers.

"Magneto assured us you'd find us eventually." A voice from somewhere within the crowd suddenly spoke.

"We have no feud with you." Scott tried to reassure the small group before them, although his time was a warning authority, as he adjusted the dial n his lenses, preparing to initiate a defence should the need arise.

"Then leave us now!" The young woman from the front line immediately cut in. "Or you will be compelled to leave by force!"

Se was reasonably tall and slender with long chocolate locks of dark brown hair, and sharp green eyes which created the piercing impression that colour contacts had been applied, rather than this being their natural pigmentation. She raised an outstretched hand level with her breast, firing a warning shot from her palm in between Scott and where Jean now stood; a think, textured spike, the colour and density of bone which narrowly missed the two by a matter of inches, before ricocheting off the side of the X-Jet and shattering on the stony ground.

Scott immediately took careful aim and directed a low strength beam of bright, red-tinted light in her direction, throwing her backwards off her feet in an instant.

"Make a threat like that and you should be prepared to follow it through!" He advised her, before the assembly suddenly moved forward as one, hostile conflict resulting from a single disarming manoeuvre meant to prologue the uneasy calm between the two groups.

It was then, although far exceeding their new assailants in experience, Scott realised that they were significantly outnumbered, and glancing around briefly noticed that their team suddenly appeared mysteriously thin on the ground.

"Jean, have you seen Logan?" He asked, as he turned to frown, puzzled, in the direction of the young woman still standing slightly to the left of him, as he noticed had gone.

"He was here a moment ago." She responded with some concern as she immediately began to scan the surrounding area searchingly with her eyes… but to no avail.

Logan had suddenly vanished.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 8**

**Well here we go, Chapter 8 is now up, and yet again thank you all for sticking with me on this story and especially for all of your reviews. Please do keep these coming! I love to know what you think! Enjoy! :D**

Meanwhile their wearing ally had somehow found himself on the other side of the derelict site. Magneto was close, he could feel it in his adamantium, drawing him in, sensing him edging closer and closer until this became a dull ache and finally an explosive pain erupted through his bones, the full extent of which stopping him in his tracks… but only for a moment, as soon he was being dragged in the opposite direction, towards what on first glance had appeared to be an old abandoned warehouse, but on entering now proved completely unrecognisable from it's once industrious existence.

The others could cope without him for a while, the storm clouds already beginning gathering on the sky outside were evident enough… it had been obvious from the start that those kids could never cope with ears of training under Xavier's guiding hand, even with the blissful ignorance of youth on their side.

They had come here to find Magneto, and in doing so had fallen into an elaborate trap, set up to draw them to their current location under false pretences, and lulling them into a false sense of security… but Logan, even at the risk of abandoning the rest of the team had not allowed his instincts to pass him by without a fight, and standing here now he knew that he had been right to come here.

"Magneto!" He called out into the darkness, hearing his own echo ricochet back to him in response, "Magneto I know you're here!"

"Not quite up to your usual standard are you Wolverine?" Logan turned as Magneto appeared suddenly behind him. "Your body is weak… and with that the mind slowly follows."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Logan snarled.

"I can feel your weakness a mile off." Magneto smiled vaguely. "Although I must confess that it has worked out entirely to my own advantage. You were foolish to come here alone."

"Look bub," Logan growled, "You drew me here, so lets just get this over with."

Everything was happening so quickly now that he was struggling to get his head around the situation, and this in turn was making him irritable.

"I had great plans for you Wolverine." Magneto revealed as Logan extracted his claws. "With me you cold have been strong, but your loyalties to Charles have made you weak. I can only say that I am sorry to have to do this to a once such worthy opponent."

The next few seconds passed by in such a blur of pain that not even Logan realised what was happening to him until he was lying on the floor in a pool of his own blood, Magneto standing over him.

The trap had been set for him all along, not the rest of the team after all, and he had walked right into it. In a single wave of his hand Magneto had drawn Logan's own adamantuin claws deep into his abdomen, and he was now holding them there, watching as Logan's replenishing life force slowly leaked away from him.

"Magneto…" Logan hissed as he looked up painfully into the eyes of his attacker.

"Goodbye Wolverine." Magneto replied as he watched him turn his back… and with that he was gone.

Logan wasn't concerned however as he slowly withdrew the blades from his own body, screaming at the burning pain as he did so. His unrivalled healing abilities could make these injuries seem no more significant than a paper cut now that Magneto had gone, in as little time as it had taken him to inflict them.

Although as Logan sat for a moment and watched as the flesh rapidly healed over the open wounds the internal pain became excruciating, his breath caught in his throat and he found himself growing increasingly weaker by the minute… something was terribly wrong.

**So now we've had our first major cliff hanger please do let me know what you think! REVIEW! Review! REVIEW!**


	10. Chapter 10

**CHAPTER 9**

By the time Logan finally found himself back at the jet he had no concept of what time it was or how long he had been gone. The disgruntled youths from earlier that day had now gone leaving behind a somewhat fatigued, if not slightly smiling Storm, Scott and Jean to clear up the devastation left in their wake. As he approached Scott broke away from the two women however and made his way slowly over to Logan, a marginally irritated expression over his face.

"Where did you get to?" He asked.

Suppressing the acute pain now coursing through his chest and abdomen Logan resumed the same front that he had adopted over the previous few weeks since the start of his apparent illness… appearing for a moment like his usual self.

"Doing what we came here to do… finding Magneto." He forced.

"Any luck?" Storm asked as she came over, Jean following closely behind.

Logan faltered. "Yeah…" He responded. "He was here. We confronted each other in an old warehouse about ten minutes to the west of here, bit we've had a wasted journey, he's gone now."

"And that's it?" Scott frowned, displaying his obvious annoyance a Logan's lack of information. "You confronted Magneto single handedly, no battle scars, and that's all you've got to say? Where is he now?"

"I don't know!" Logan suddenly snapped, the pain now becoming unbearable, before turning to Storm and Jean. "Let's just get out of here." He pleaded, his voice sounding strained momentarily before he managed to regain his usual composure.

"Are you alright Logan?" Storm asked, suddenly concerned.

"I'm fine." Logan responded reassuringly. "Come on, let's get back."

"Hang on…" Scott cut in.

"Come on." Jean sighed, turning to Scott with this. "There's no pint in us staying here now."

Logan however hung back, following a few feet behind the rest of the team as they made their way hastily back to the jet and he found himself no longer able to keep up with them. His lungs felt at though they were swollen with fluid, and he was drowning, his chest constricted with each passing breath, making his head feel as though it was full of cotton wool… although as his brain felt as though it was being steadily starved of oxygen this did however have the welcoming effect of numbing his pain, as he became less aware of his surroundings.

Suddenly Scott heard a heavy thud from behind, making him turn to see Logan's semi-conscious and pale form sprawled out on the ground a few feet behind them.

"Jean!" He called as he sprinted back to where Logan now lay in an instant, unsure as to what had just happened, before kneeling down beside his friend… but Logan was far too gone to respond to any of the young mans desperate questions.

"Help me." Was all he found himself able to say, before a wave of unconsciousness finally enveloped him, and everything went black.


	11. Chapter 11

**CHAPTER 10**

The corridor leading to the medical lab in the lower recesses of the mansion remained eerily deserted and silent just a few hours later. Although no details regarding Logan's condition had so far been exchanged by the staff to the pupils, the shock revelation that he had been seen brought back from the expedition in a state of beer consciousness and must have somehow come by serious injury during the course of the afternoons manoeuvres had taken them all by surprise, and Professor Xavier had immediately called Scott to organise an emergency assembly to ensure that the entire school was put fully in the picture as was necessary, and prevent any rumours from circulating.

Despite his pain being evidently unbearable Logan had however periodically regained consciousness during the anxious trip back, finally confiding in Jean everything that had taken place during his fateful confrontation with Magneto, and the reason for his obvious distance over the past few days.

Now however she had him heavily sedated whilst she examined him, and as the Professor oversaw the procedure with a concerned eye she sighed heavily at intervals as it became clear that Logan's current condition was more serious than anyone could have originally contemplated.

"How is he?" Storm asked, voicing the question currently plaguing all of their uneasy minds as the lab doors parted to admit her entrance into the mortal silence of the medical lab, about an hour after they had all initially arrived back at the mansion.

He Professor's expression was sombre. He could tell by the anguished look of Jean's set expression that fate was not leaning favourably to Logan's side.

"I've managed to get him stabilised." Jean explained gravely after a moment. "His white blood cell count is up, indicating that he's probably been fighting an infection of some sort for quite some time, which may go a long way in explaining his recent weakness. But that's the least of his worries now I'm afraid."

Silence abruptly ensued as Jean took a moment t compose herself, her voice catching painfully in her throat for an instant, before continuing. "He needs surgery…" She concluded at last. "But I can't do it alone, he really aught to be in hospital if it wasn't for the fact of what might happen to him up if they found out he was a mutant."

"How serious is it?" The Professor enquired.

"It's hard to tell at this point in time." She explained. "He's bleeding internally and the results of the scans I have taken show that he's sustained extensive internal damage. The ultrasound shows that there's some significant tearing to his liver and possibly some bleeding around his kidney area, but the inflammation to his lungs is causing them to fill up with fluid which is why he initially found it so hard to breathe when he first collapsed."

"But I thought the nature of his mutation prevented him from becoming too seriously injured? Can't we just wait and see the effect as time runs its course?" Storm asked, her shock evident as she struggled to allow the painful reality of the situation to sink in. Nothing made sense, Logan had somehow walked away from mortal injury in the past relatively unscathed, and although they had suspected that he must have come down sick at least once in the period of time since they had first met him he had never appeared affected by it. Now he lay before them, obviously in deep sufferance from one such injury, and she felt completely powerless to help.

"Normally yes." Jean continued. "But he's weak. As things stand his mutation can only provide us with what we need… more time. It cannot cure him."

At this Storm closed her eyes against the grief and fear beginning to burn in her throat as the Professor sighed heavily. Himself apparently in a state of distracted contemplation before, opening his eyes slowly, hands clasped, he appeared to have reached a conclusion.

"We need to tell Scott." He determined at last, breaking the uneasy silence which had finally lapsed between the group. "The students should be informed about this."

Storm nodded, her tears now evident as they asked their descent down her cheeks in a trickle of black, inky mascara. "Do you want me to do that for you Professor?" She offered.

"If you would Ororo?" He asked. "I'd like to sit with Logan for a while if you wouldn't mind. I need to have a word with Jean."

A moment later Storm left, having regained enough composure to put up some sort of a front on her unusually raw emotions, for the students sake, as much as her own. Leaving the Professor alone with Jean.

"Is there something we need to discuss Professor?" The young brunette enquired as she began to make her way back over to where Logan lay.

"Jean you're a brilliant doctor." He spoke encouragingly, doing his best to reassure her as h noticed her empty expression. "Logan's a fighter. We'll think of a way to get him through this, but he'll be waking up soon and he's going to need you to be there for him. Plus I think you and I both know of a mutual friend who would be more than happy to lend his exceptional medical expertise to a fellow X-Man."

"Who, Hank?" Jean frowned questioningly.

Doctor Hank McCoy had certainly proved his worth to the X-Men over the past few years. Now Secretary for the Department of Mutant Affairs he had initially trained as a doctor before the people's hostility towards mutants had made it almost impossible for him to practice.

The Professor nodded, a small smile spreading across his face as he did so. Although Jean initially failed to respond as she turned to check on Logan's vital signs, her attentions momentarily diverted as he began to stir.

"I just wish that he had of told me how he was feeling." She muttered, her tone barely audible as she gently caressed the loose strands of hair away from his pale forehead.

"Jean?" The Professor pressed her after a moment.

"It's alright Professor." She finally responded, glancing up at him with a resilient glint in her eyes. "I'm alright… Logan's strong, as you say, he's a fighter, we all know that… but if he doesn't get this surgery within the next few days he's not going to have strength enough left to carry on fighting for much longer… and for that I know what needs to be done."

**_PLEASE KEEP THE REVIEWS COMING!_**

**_THANKS! :D_**


	12. Chapter 12

**CHAPTER 11**

**Well here it is, the next installment! I'm glad to read that you are still enjoying the story! I hope to keep updates as swift as possible in the future, although the reason why I have been able to be so quick with updates recently is that these are all revised versions of chapters I have already written... and I still have a few of these to go yet. However it may take a little longer when I start on those later chapters that I haven't yet started work on, but you've all been so patient with me so far, and I'm so happy that so many of you have stuck with me even despite my lack of regular updates! Thank you all! Oh and please REVIEW!**

Half an hour later Logan had sufficiently regained consciousness for Jean to feel confident enough that he was now ready to handle the true extent of his situation, both quietly engaged in the first proper conversation Logan had been coherent enough to participate in since they had first brought him back to the mansion.

"So what's the verdict?" He asked her weakly at last, as the effects of the sedative finally began to war off.

"You need surgery." She explained gently, sighing after a pause as she failed to keep the tears from escaping her wrought soul. His pain was evident, although she could tell that he was trying to keep it from her. The fact that he was also still obviously masking the full extent of his discomfort not making the situation any easier.

"Surgery?" Logan exclaimed as he struggled to force himself to sit up, regretting it immediately as searing pain irrupted through his chest and abdomen, winding him instantly and making him fight for breath.

"No… no…" Jean coaxed as she placed her hands firmly against his shoulders to restrain her patient. "You've sustained some significant abdominal trauma. Just lie there still. We've contacted Hank to see if he can help," She added with a knowing glance in the Professors direction, "bit so far he hasn't responded. Do you need any more pain medication?" She asked.

Logan shook his head vaguely at this however, a sudden fear and confusion conveyed within his lonely expression. "I'm fine." He responded.

"Very well." Jean smiled sympathetically. "The Professor's going to sit with you for a while whilst I just sort a few things out. Will you be alright?"

Logan simply nodded.

As Jean left he glanced around stiffly, wincing in obvious discomfort as he inadvertently adjusted his position somewhat, before attempting yet again to sit upright.

"I wouldn't do that it I were you." Professor Xavier advised as he approached. "Jean's right, you need to take it easy, rest."

Logan grimaced as he lowered himself back down steadily in resignation with this, finding himself too weak and in too much pain to do very much but raise his shoulders a few inches from the bed before he was overcome with dizziness, and felt close to collapse… he was exhausted.

"How are you really feeling Logan?" The Professor asked him patiently as he observed this. Although as Logan turned to glance in his direction he noticed that Xavier's lips weren't moving, and suddenly realised that the voice was coming from inside his own head.

With this he felt his pain ease somewhat, and realised immediately that the Professor was guiding him, helping him to refocus his mind.

Although as he glanced in Xavier's direction he noticed that he must also have been, himself, absorbing some of Logan's pain, his own expression contorted with an agony which it hurt Logan to see even more than his own physical pain.

"Don't Professor!" He pleaded with him at this.

Whether it was due to his increasingly fevered state Logan was no longer sure but he suddenly found himself contemplating the nature of the bond and the relationship which he now had with the Professor and the other X-Men, and how it had come to develop over the past few years. He hadn't trusted many people over the course of his lifetime, the last time he had trusted someone enough to place his life in their hands he had woken up to find his life changed forever, and an unwelcome routine of nightmares – fleeting images of a time shrouded by intense emotional and physical pain, which he could never quite remember once he awoke. But he now realised that he trusted the Professor, and suddenly nothing was more important than revealing to him the agonizing reality of how he was currently feeling.

"Not good." He admitted at last, as he felt the pain of previous suddenly wash over him once again, and the Professor patted him on the shoulder reassuringly.

"You should really have let Jean give you that extra pain medication." Xavier informed him, having had a brief glimpse into the degree of discomfort Logan was currently facing he could tell that he was exhausted, although Logan couldn't respond immediately, as a wracking cough suddenly seized his chest, bringing up specks of blood, alongside thick, brown coloured mucus.

"Here." The Professor spoke calmly as he fitted Logan with a small, plastic breathing tube. "It'll help."

Logan regarded the Professor with a grateful glance for a moment, before feeling strong enough to continue. "Thanks." He sighed, breathing heavily, taking a moment to catch his breath before continuing. "About Hank…" He strained after he had sufficiently recovered. "Is he good?"

"Before his mutation fully evolved I used to consider him one of the best." The Professor replied, "and he's not bad at the bedside manner thing either." He smiled reassuringly as he leaned in closer.

"You never told me he was a doctor." Logan continued.

"It didn't seem significant." The Professor explained. "And you didn't know him that well at the time. The occasion just never seemed to present itself."

"It's irrelevant now anyway." Logan sighed. "Whether I'd have known or not I could never have pictured _myself_ in this situation."

"You're going to pull through though Logan." The Professor reassured him. "You need to remain positive. I know you, and I know that you can cope with this."

Suddenly Logan grimaced, his body convulsing slightly with his uneasiness, making it evident to the Professor that he was obviously suffering significantly more than he was letting on.

"How's the pain?" Xavier asked, already knowing the answer.

"A little worse." Logan revealed.

"I could try intercepting some of the pain receptors in your brain, which may help to reduce some of your discomfort for now." The Professor offered. "It could bring you some tempory relief at least."

"No Professor, I don't want you doing that." Logan insisted. "I'm… alright."

"Well, I'm going to get Jean to give you an extra dose of morphine when she gets back." He informed him. "That should help, but why don't you try and get some sleep in the meantime? I'll be here if you need anything."

Logan sighed. "I'm scared Professor." He revealed after a moment.

"I know." The Professor smiled. "But just try to get some rest now Logan… we're all here for you."

Logan nodded weakly with this however, closing his eyes against the haze of encroaching sleep, before exhaustedly succumbing to unconsciousness.

A little while later Jean entered, approaching the Professor quietly as she observed Logan's seeping form beside him.

"I just heard back from Hank." She explained in a hushed tone. "He's coming. He'll be here tomorrow morning."


	13. Chapter 13

**CHAPTER 12**

"Jean?" Professor Xavier spoke enquiringly, the sliding electronic doors gliding open to emit him into the medical lab during the early hours of the following morning. As they did so he observed the young woman leaning over Logan's bedside, a small blanket draped over her shoulders… the only indication that she had made any attempt to get any rest herself that evening. "I thought I'd find you here." He smiled as he approached.

Jean jumped with the sound of his voice, turning to acknowledge his presence with this, and as she did so he noticed her tired features. She returned a small smile in greeting, before turning back to Logan. Xavier recognising as she eyed him affectionately, taking his limp hand in hers for a moment, and gently tracing the outline of his adamantium skeleton with her fingers.

"I couldn't sleep." She responded wearily. "I just kept thinking about tomorrow."

The mood at dinner had been sombre and remarkably uneventful that evening, although understandably so. Xavier had insisted that Jean join them, if only for a little while. Nobody appeared to be satisfying much of an appetite however, hardly failing to recognise the missing member, and the empty seat at their table… and Jean had eaten very little before promptly returning to Logan's bedside as soon as she considered it time enough to do so, where she had remained since, as the evening had continued to draw on.

"How is he?" The Professor asked, and with this Jean offered him Logan's chart to read. His understanding of the medical terminology limited, although he could easily catch the gist of the meaning behind the words as he scanned the report detailing Logan's fluctuating condition.

"Weakening… but he's holding up." She explained. "I have him heavily sedated for now though, he shouldn't awake much before morning."

Standing, to check on his drip with this, Jean failed to disguise an exhausted yawn as she made her way over to the other side of the bed however, taking note of various readings, examining his unconscious form cautiously before, pale with fatigue, and an evident degree of concern, returning to take up her previous position at his beside.

Xavier nodded, observing this, "And you?" He asked after a moment, as he handed her back the report.

"I'm just doing my best to make sure his comfortable." She sighed. "He's stable, but he was in a lot of pain before I sedated him, and is likely to be again when he wakes up. For some reason the drugs I have given him only seem to be taking the edge off his discomfort… which concerns me a little. It could be a real indicator as to how much pain he's really in." She explained.

"That's not what I meant." Xavier pressed, with raised eyebrows. His meaning perfectly clear.

"I'm hanging in there." Jean smiled.

The Professor let out a slow sigh of breath at this, and the young red head immediately sensed that there was perhaps something much more perplexing bothering him, which he wasn't letting on.

"I just keep expecting some sudden improvement." She continued after a moment. "Some slight change to suggest that he's healing abilities are getting stronger… even if I know that things are very different this time."

Xavier nodded understandingly. "Why don't you go and get some sleep?" He asked. "You've said it yourself, he's sedate enough. He won't wake up until morning."

"I should stay." She replied.

"I'll be here Jean," He promised. "Logan won't be alone, and I'll let you know as soon as if there's any change… you're not going to be doing him any favours if you wear yourself out you know. He's going to need you to be strong for him over the next few days." He explained.

Jean seemed to consider this for a moment, before responding finally. "What about you?" She asked.

"I can't sleep." The Professor explained. "Too much going on up here." He smiled, gesturing towards his head.

"With your powers?" She asked, frowning with concern.

"No, nothing quite so spectacular as that." He laughed slightly at this. "Just thinking."

"Want to share?" She offered.

"Jean." The Professor shook his head. "I doubt if you really wanted to know you would even have to ask that." He smiled. "But it's nothing really… go on, you look exhausted."

She aimed a lasting look at Logan with this, torn, unsure of whether to leave him, before finally bending down to kiss him gently on the forehead, brushing the dark locks of his thick, rich hair away from his hot scalp as she did so.

"Night Professor." She uttered after a moment.

"Goodnight Jean." He smiled.

He paused for a moment, waiting for her to leave. Finally hearing the sliding doors close shut behind her, before closing his eyes despairingly.

'_I don't believe this Erik!' _He thought to himself. _'I don't believe you would do this out of choice! This should never have been part of your plan!'_ Before asking himself out loud…

"Why Erik? Why this?" Edging his way closer to Logan's bedside as he said so.


	14. Chapter 14

**CHAPTER 13**

**Well here it is, the next chapter. Sorry it's been a few days, I've been exceptionally busy and haven't had the chance to get on here and update! Anyhow, it's here now! Let me know what you think!**

It was a grey and dreary forecast which greeted Jean when she opened the curtains to what had once been her and Scott's bedroom the following morning (not that she had managed to get much sleep). Realising that Storm, along with a large majority of the rest of the mansion's residents by the sound of it, were already up when she spotted the sun making it's first appearance of the day beyond the school's many acres of ground and between the surrounding countryside on the horizon.

Hank was due to arrive at nine o' clock that morning, and as an anxious tear escaped her and tricked down her pale cheek Jean sat herself back down on the edge of her bed for a moment, glancing at the clock on the bedside table as she did so, and watching as it ticked away the seconds from 6:01 to 6:02. She realised that she was going to have to pull herself together if she wanted any hope of helping Logan through this, but the sight of him deteriorating so steadily as she had sat with him until the early hours during the evening before had been almost too much for Jean to bear. He had always been so physically strong in the past, apparently unbreakable. He had endured so much over the years spent with his fellow X-Men, unfazed by the bullets or the numerous physical assaults which (as a mutant) he had withstood, and as they had never managed to obtain details from him of how old he really was she had even considered the subject of his potential immortality with some seriousness… no matter how unlikely this may have been.

Now she looked upon her previous train of thought as foolish, and hated herself for placing faith in the illusion that he could never, and would never leave her… it only made this blow so much harder to bare.

She thought about skipping breakfast that morning and going straight down to check on Logan, but she knew that she would only meet with the Professor's disapproval by not eating anything that day, or at least by not trying (although she realised that he would completely understand), and despite the fact that lessons had now been put on hold until the end of the week there was still the student's general wellbeing to consider.

Suddenly however there came a gentle knock at the bedroom door, cutting her solitary moment of contemplation abruptly short. But as she stepped up to answer it she suddenly froze in a state of shock and disbelief. Logan stood before her, pale as paper, and dripping sweat and blood in equal measure where he stood, having obviously torn his tubes out.

"Jean…" He croaked.

"Logan!" She exclaimed as she ran to grab a sheet to wrap around his bare shoulders, noticing that he had began to shiver quite violently, and wondering how he had ever managed to make it all the way up here from the medical lab in the basement without being noticed. "What are you doing up here?" She asked, panic beginning to rise in the pit of her stomach as she looked around frantically for somebody to assist her in getting Logan back downstairs and into bed as quickly as possible. "You should be resting!"

"I needed to see you Jean." He explained as she helped him over to the bed, laying him down. "I wanted to talk to you before Hank arrived."

"We can talk once we've got you back into your own bed." She scolded. "Hank's not due here for at least another couple of hours yet. Until then just lie there and rest whilst I try to find somebody to help me move you."

"No!" Logan pleaded, suddenly grabbing Jean by the arm as she got up to leave. "It's important." He insisted. Although he didn't get much further as suddenly Jean, who had been anxiously keeping an eye on the open bedroom door for sign of anybody passing, suddenly noticed a group of students run by, in all likely hood on their way to breakfast, and she raced from the room to catch up with them. Recognising Rogue and Kitty amongst them, trailing a significant distance behind the rest, their enthusiasm towards the cancelled lessons obviously not equalling that of their peers.

"Rogue, Kitty." She called to them down the corridor. The young women turned, and Rogue, being the significantly elder of the two, began to make her way over. She managed to force a smile as she approached although even from this distance Jean could see the pain in her eyes which she had obviously found so impossible to disguise. Like so many of the young people who resided at Xavier's Institute for gifted youngster's Rogue had spent most of her life feeling completely alone before she had met Logan… an outcast. He had been the first of her kind that she had ever encountered, and had saved her life in more ways than one on more than one occasion. She was bound to have been hit hard by the situation.

"Yes Jean?" Rogue asked as she stopped short in front of her mentor. The distinct streak of greying hair amongst her brown locks serving as a constant reminder of the bond which she and Logan now shared.

"Could you possibly do me a favour?" Jean enquired gently, noticing Rogue's hand unconsciously reaching to touch her silvery highlights in her presence. "I'm afraid that I've got Logan in my bedroom. He somehow managed to make it out of the medical lab this morning, but we need to get him back into bed as soon as possible before he does himself anymore potentially permanent damage. I was wondering if you could fetch Scott for me whilst I stay with him? I can't manage moving him on my own I'm afraid."

"Is he alright?" Rogue asked.

"He's going to be just fine." Jean tried to reassure her. "Hank will be arriving soon. He'll know how to help Logan in the best way possible. But for now he needs rest, so if you could locate Scott for me please?"

Rogue nodded and at this the pair shared a melancholy smile. Jean could tell that her words had done little to encourage the young woman standing before her, but at the same time that they both now shared a mutual understanding. That no matter what happened to Logan they were both in the same boat. He meant something different to each and every one of them residing at the Xavier Mansion, but just as much in their own way, and nobody could stand the thought of what life might be like for them in the future if Logan failed to pull through.

Jean stood and watched Rogue and Kitty disappear together down the corridor, spending a few moments in thought to herself, before heading back towards her bedroom to check on Logan. When she got back she found him lying with his back to the bed looking up at the ceiling, just as she had left him. He turned to look blankly at her as she entered, but didn't say anything.

"Are you in pain?" She asked.

Logan shook his head, but she could see even from this distance that he was struggling to conceal the fact that he was. As she made her way over to him however she couldn't help but smile, even now he was doing his best to put a brave face on things, trying not to show the true extent of his discomfort, and she knew that he was doing it predominantly for her… because he didn't want to show weakness in front of the woman that he loved. She stooped down and lay next to him, placing her hand gently against his abdomen as she did so, watching as he gritted his teeth with the pain this produced.

"I'm sorry." He spoke after a moment, running his fingers affectionately through her rustic hair.

"For what?" She smiled.

"For acting so rashly." He explained. "I don't know what came over me… I… I just… I love you Jean… I had to let you know that."

"I know." She whispered as she placed her finger gently against his lips to stem the flow of words. He let out a strangled flow of breath as her supple flesh made contact with his. For a moment Jean thought that he may have lost consciousness as he closed his eyes, enjoying the intimacy of the moment as her sweet perfume enveloped his senses.

She sighed. "Logan…" She enquired after a moment.

"Mmmmm?" He murmured.

"Just tell me you'll fight." She asked. "Please Logan just tell me that you'll…"

"Jean…" The Professor's warning tone suddenly cut her short however, returning the young woman to her senses immediately, and the situation in hand, as his reassuring voice rang out from behind her.

She turned with this to observe as Xavier and Scott entered the room, Scott initially standing aside to allow his respected mentor and close friend room to enter first, before following… the Professor fixing Jean with a warning stare as he did so, albeit only briefly, before winking warmly in her direction.

With this she realised that the drawn out seconds which had seemed to pass in relative silence between them in Logan's subdued presence, had actually transpired as several short minutes, and Jean was relieved that Rogue had at least had no apparent trouble locating Scott, nor the Professor.

"Good morning." He smiled.

Logan barely managed a slight nod of his head in polite greeting however as Jean helped him up, to sit perched on the edge of the bed, resting with his head against the wall, to one side.

"How are you feeling today?" The Professor asked.

Logan grimaced uncomfortably with this as he responded. "I've had better days." He admitted finally with a small grunt. "But I've had many more worse."

Admittedly, he considered, this was the first he had found himself in a situation like this before… the first time that his healing abilities had ever let him down. But as he looked around, from Jean's affectionate and anxious expression, to Scott, to the Professor, he realised that he now had friends… real friend's, who wanted to see him through… people who cared about _him_, for the first time in his life, when he was so used to having nothing, and nobody… and that he was genuinely loved by them all.

"You've really gone and got yourself into quite a situation haven't you tough guy?" Scott spoke gently, a small smile turning the corners of his mouth as he said so, no trace of his usual rivalry with Logan present in his tone. Before turning to Jean, "Rogue explained everything… she's quite concerned," He explained. "I thought the Professor should have been informed, but we came as quickly as we could."

"Actually," The Professor smiled knowingly, "I was already on my way up here when Scott found me… there wasn't much he could tell me that I didn't already know… Logan, what were you thinking?" He asked.

"I wasn't…" Logan groaned, struggling to his feet suddenly with this, regretting it immediately however, as he was seized with an agony which he had only ever felt the like of once before, and had hoped to never experience again, letting out a ragged sigh. "Jean…" He suddenly faltered, so quietly however that the young woman failed to hear him, the Professor being the only to notice as Logan gasped suddenly for breath.

"Jean, could I have a quick word with you?" Scott asked. "It's about Rogue…"

Suddenly Logan paled however.

"Scott!" The Professor suddenly called out, and Scott looked up just in time to see Logan sway, eyelids flickering before beginning to close, as he sprinted forwards with just enough time to catch him as he fell, before Logan feinted to the ground.


	15. Chapter 15

**CHAPTER 14**

**Hey all, well here it is! Chapter 14 is up, and I'm sorry that it's so short... but this one is meant to be! The next one will be much longer! Let me know what you think! :D**

"Hank." Charles Xavier smiled at the sight of his old friend, as he welcomed Doctor Hank McCoy on his arrival at the mansion, a couple of hours later. "Thank you for doing this." He spoke, as Scott closed the door gently behind the blue mutant.

"Charles," Hank grinned, shaking hands warmly with Professor Xavier in greeting, as each one offered a hand for the other to take simultaneously. "Don't even mention it." He continued. "I'm always happy to help."

"Hank." Storm called as she emerged from the other end of the corridor, attracting the older mutant's attention. As the young blonde made her way over, the two shared an affectionate and gentle embrace in welcome as she approached. "It's good to see you." She smiled.

"And you." He responded genially.

"I just wish it could be under better circumstances." She sighed, and Hank gripped her comfortingly, squeezing her comparatively smaller palm with this. "Jean's holding up, but she's worrying herself restless… we all are…" She added.

"I'll talk to her." Hank smiled reassuringly.

"Shall I get someone to show you to your room?" The Professor asked, as Storm took his suitcase.

"No thank you Charles." He responded with this. "If it's all the same to you I'd like to see Logan first if that's alright?"

"He's in the infirmary." Xavier smiled meekly. "And I mean it Hank, we're really incredibly grateful to you for offering to do this at such short notice." He explained. "He won't admit it, but I think even he knows the seriousness of his own condition…"

Hank smiled understandingly with this, as he placed a hand upon the Professor's shoulder, before speaking, "I'll let you know once I've seen him, as soon as I know more." He explained.

"Thanks Hank." Xavier spoke gravely, as Storm proceeded to take his case up to his room, and Scott observed as the two old friends shared a mutual and knowing smile.

With this Charles Xavier closed his eyes in deep thought for a moment as the small group began to gradually disperse from around them, until only he, Hank and Scott remained. He could sense so much fear… so much pain… anxiety, and despair… but in that moment he could also sense the renewed sense of hope which came from Hank's presence at the mansion… and realised with some degree of uncertainty that the doctor may prove to be Logan's only chance of survival.


	16. Chapter 16

**CHAPT****ER 15**

As Hank made his way down to the lower recesses of the building, entering the infirmary a few minutes later, he observed the solitary and sedate form of Logan, a thick bandage wrapped tightly around his waist and abdomen, at the other end of the room. There was a drip feeding saline directly into a vein in his left hand, and Hank could hear his ragged breathing even from this distance.

On initial glance he appeared to be dozing, if somewhat fitfully. Although as the electronic doors closed behind him Hank observed him stir slightly, awaking groggily at first to the sound of him enter, before a low groan escaped him, preceded by a dry, breathless cough.

"Hey fir ball." He heard him mutter weakly, the words drowned out by his oxygen mask.

"How are you feeling?" Hank asked gently as he approached. "I'm sorry if I woke you."

"I've been better." Logan forced, reaching out with one pale hand with this to remove the oxygen mask from his face. As Hank approached he finally gained a much clearer view of his patient's condition however, pale, and weak, his forehead was clammy, indicative of high fever, and his cheeks flushed slightly with obvious pain. Although Logan was evidently also fighting a loosing battle against exhaustion, his eyelids beginning to close slightly, before suddenly once more starting awake. "Sorry." He sighed.

"We'll soon have you right again." Hank tried to reassure him, smiling slightly with this as he began reading through Logan's medical report. There wasn't that much to read however, the results of Logan's blood work suggested a severe infection, possibly having been prolonged over a long period of time. The battery of other tests all pointing towards the same grave conclusion.

"How's the pain?" Hank asked as he recognised Logan grimace, a deep sigh escaping him a few moments later. His hand instinctively reaching out to rub at the bandage swathed about his abdomen as he did so.

Logan looked at him with this, as Hank replaced the medical report before turning to glance at him assuringly. He knew that Logan wasn't normally one to freely offer up details of his own medical condition… as much out of a lack of ever having to do so, than fear of showing weakness, especially, he now realised, in front of the woman that he loved… but Hank persisted along this line of conversation all the same, taking advantage of Jean's absence.

"Logan?" He asked. "I may be your friend, but at the moment I am also your doctor, and I can't help you unless you're prepared to help me." He explained. "You may have noticed, but I'm not Jean." He chucked. "You don't have to concern yourself with worrying me."

Logan let out a deeply afflicted sigh with this. "Wow! The Professor wasn't wrong about that bedside manner of yours was he?" He smiled… "It hurts." He admitted finally.

Hank nodded understandingly. "I'd like to examine you myself." He stated after a moment. "That is if I may?" He asked.

Logan, too weak to do much else, simply gestured slightly with his head to his agreement with this however, before finally closing his eyes and exhaling wearily. "Who am I to argue blue…" He murmured.

"I'd like to take some more blood." Hank explained, checking Logan's IV, whilst assembling the required medical equipment as he did so, organising the available supplies, "And I need to take some of your vitals for later on today… Jean explained that you've been unusually weak since the incident."

Logan sighed.

"No sign of your healing abilities kicking in at all?" Hank questioned.

Logan shook his head. "How is she?" He asked.

"Who, Jean?" Hank frowned quizzically, before a reassuring smile turned the corners of his lips. "She's as well as can be expected…" He explained. "Don't you get worrying yourself about her. She's a tough woman Logan. She's holding up."

With this Hank selected a small package from a tray of neatly aligned medical equipment adjacent to both he and Logan, and as the blue mutant tore the plastic seal from the front, and popped the plastic cap from the top of the object Logan was able, for the first time, to identify it as a sterile syringe.

Hank noticed him grimace at the sight of this however, and readjusted his angle slightly to shield Logan's gaze.

"Are you alright?" He asked with this, before explaining, "I'll be as careful as I can… but I'm afraid this will sting." He added emphatically.

Logan simply nodded, and Hank, clearly understanding his need for this to be over as quickly as possible, promptly set about his duty, recognising as Logan flinched slightly as he felt the cold metallic needle of the hypodermic pierce his skin.

"Sorry." Hank apologised. "I'll make this as quick as I possibly can."

"S'alright." Logan mumbled, closing his eyes.

Although the rest of the time between them appeared to pass in relative silence, he continued to struggle, groaning, opening his eyes at intervals under Hank's thorough examination and extensive battery of tests however, in obvious discomfort, leaving Hank to suspect that he was almost certainly in a great deal more pain than he was letting on… even to him.

He sighed despairingly.

"Well, you've certainly managed to get yourself into quite a state." He revealed finally however, once he had completed his examination. "But, we'll see you right again. Jean was spot on with the diagnosis… she's a brilliant doctor."

"Hank, I'm scared." Logan confessed at last, as Hank was finally able to give him something for the pain. Injecting a dose of the pain numbing medication into the IV already inserted through a vein in Logan's hand.

"That's understandable." Hank patted him reassuringly on the shoulder with this. "Just rest now. I'm going to give you a light sedative to help you relax."

Logan nodded.

Although it was another while before he finally fell asleep, despite being already weary, his weakened healing abilities still significantly strong enough to curb the effects of the sedative somewhat.

Hank stayed by his bedside however, the two immersing themselves deep in quiet conversation, before he finally fell asleep.

With this Hank checked finally on Logan's breathing and vital signs, taking a white lab coat with the 'X' logo neatly embroidered on the left breast, hanging from a peg over in the far corner of the room nearest to the door. Before taking a stethoscope from the pocket and returning to where Logan now lay, gently checking his respirations and heart rate, without waking him, and noting his observations on his patients medical report… taking his time to run through the results of the extensive battery of tests for a second time, in his own head, as he did so.

After which the blue mutant carefully replaced the sleeping Logan's oxygen mask, before leaving to find Charles, Jean, Storm, and Scott, who he knew were anxiously awaiting news of Logan's condition, in Xavier's office.


	17. Chapter 17

**CHAPTER 16**

As Hank suddenly found himself standing outside the Professor's office a few minutes later he could sense the tense anxiety radiating from within the comparatively small room, before he'd even had chance to open the door. As he entered he observed the Professor sitting patiently behind his desk, hands clasped and fingers locked together thoughtfully, Storm and Scott were standing rigidly either side, whilst Jean sat, leaning backwards against and into the brown leather couch parallel to the solid oak desk. They all looked over as they both hard and saw him enter, each out of the corner of their eye, the Professor opening his and smiling in polite greeting, as the kindly blue mutant returned the gesture, eyes set and expression pained and serious however as he made a beeline for the young red head and placed what he hoped to be a reassuring hand upon her slender shoulder.

"You did well Jean." He informed her as she looked up, their gaze meeting fleetingly for a moment, tears glistening in the young woman's eyes although her own expression strong and set determined.

"It's as we feared." The Professor spoke next however, tearing Hank's gaze from the figure of the slender woman before him to that of his old friend; it was a statement, not a question, and the blue mutant nodded in confirmation.

"Jean's a brilliant doctor." He confirmed, "I can't argue with her diagnosis… Logan's sustained some significant internal damage." He explained. "and I have to be honest with myself as well as the rest of you, although it's always ore difficult when it concerns a friend…" He paused before continuing. "It's serious, and he's weak, ideally I'd like him a little stronger before recommending any kind of operation, but the longer he's left the weaker he becomes… I'd go so far as to say we have a margin of only a matter of hours before he's too weak for treatment to prove effective."

Jean looked around suddenly with this, expression composed although eyes slightly wide and pupils dilated with suppressed fear.

"Then what would you advise?" She asked.

Hank sighed, glancing at each and every one of them in turn, considering their options, or lack of as the case may be, carefully and tentatively before responding. "I'd like to operate this afternoon." He revealed to them all at last. "And Jean?" He continued. "… If you're feeling up to it, I'd like you to assist me?"


	18. Chapter 18

**CHAPTER 17**

A couple of hours later Logan lay flat out on the cool, hard surface of the metallic examination table in the medical lab. He was more painfully aware now than he had been in days; week's maybe, as Jean held his hand, rubbing calmingly soothing circles across the knuckle of his index finger with the delicate pad of her thumb, smiling down at him. Logan did his best to return the gesture, although as he sensed Hank setting up for the procedure which awaited, hearing the occasional clatter and crash of assorted medical equipment, which Logan had little recognition of, and even less real desire to familiarise himself with, he recoiled. He craned his neck somewhat stiffly in an effort to get a slightly better view of the blue mutant as he busied himself in the far corner of the room. Further blood tests had come back revealing that Logan was anaemic, and Hank was now more anxious than ever to get the procedure over and done with as quickly as possible. However, as he sensed Logan's eyes upon him, the other mutant suddenly turned, a reassuring smile curling the corners of his naturally dark blue lips and well defined mouth.

"Just relax." He instructed his patient kindly, there was an uncapped hypodermic in his hand and Logan could suddenly feel his muscles going instinctively tense, although as he noticed him gently place it down in an empty medical tray as he approached, he relaxed momentarily. "Try not to look." Hank advised, sensing his patient's obvious anxiety at this. "It'll all be over soon."

Logan nodded.

"It's the last haul now Logan." Hank continued to explain, patting his friend reassuringly on the shoulder in an appeasing gesture. "The hardest part is down to me now… and you'll be asleep!"

"Yeah!" Logan sighed, a small smile curling the corners of his lips as he did so. "That's a huge comfort!" He laughed meekly, and Hank's own smile broadened, before noticing Jean's almost pleading glance in his direction… the two shared a brief nod in mutual understanding.

"I'll give you a moment." He spoke gently, cupping the young woman's pale cheek in his substantially larger male hand, before giving the two some privacy.

"Thanks." Jean smiled as Hank departed, before turning back to Logan. "Hank's right you know." She explained. "It'll all be over soon." She spoke encouragingly.

"Sooner for me than you though." Logan forced a smile. "I… I love you Jean!"

"I love you too." She smiled, before leaning over to kiss the other mutant delicately on the lips and noticing Hank in the far corner of the room, anxiously checking the clock on the wall, as she did so. Jean immediately realised that when the kindly blue mutant had offered to give them a moment of privacy, that's all it had been, and their time together was now short.

"Sweet dreams Logan." Jean smiled, giving Hank his cue as she squeezed Logan's hand where she still held it, reassuringly. "See you in a couple of hours."

Logan returned the gesture weakly, nodding in response before letting out a deep exhale of breath.

"How're you doing there Logan?" Hank asked, noticing his patient's reaction as he approached.

Logan heard the gently clatter of the kidney dish as the doctor laid hand to the much earlier discarded hypodermic on approach, before kindly doing his best to conceal it behind his back as he neared Logan's side.

"Pain's bad." He grimaced, and Hank's muted smile was emphatic in response.

"Well, the sooner we knock you out, the better." He explained, and Logan tried not to look as he heard him uncap the syringe surprisingly effortlessly from behind his back. "Ready?" He asked.

Logan simply nodded, and it was only then that he realised that Jean had disappeared from his side, and was now standing at the end of his head, where she placed a rather heavy oxygen mask over his mouth and nose, and Logan immediately found himself taking some rather deep gulps of the richly oxygenated air into his lungs, as he suddenly felt the prick of the needle as it penetrated the skin in the back of his hand.

"Now Logan," He suddenly heard Hank's deep and gruff voice from quite close beside his ear. "I need you to count down from ten to one for me." He clearly instructed, Logan feeling the trickle of warm liquid as it began to enter his bloodstream, and flow freely through his veins.

Logan began to count. "10… 9… 8… 8… 8… 8…", He slurred, almost immediately struggling to recall which number followed number eight. "7…" His head began to spin and swim, and his eyelids became increasingly heavy. "6…" His vision began to blur around the edges, and he closed his eyes giving in to the almost immediate force of sleep. "5… 5… fi… 5…", and Loan knew no more.


	19. Chapter 19

**CHAPTER 18**

"How is he?" The Professor asked Hank a few hours later. The two were standing outside the medical lab, door slightly ajar. Although Logan's surgery had gone as well as anybody could have expected under the circumstances, he was still understandably reluctant to leave his patient's side for more than a few moments at a time. The procedure had been a complex one, lasting several hours, and both Jean and himself were exhausted.

The doctor sighed. "He's suffered some pretty extensive damage," He explained, "a ruptured spleen, which we've had to remove, and several deep laceration and puncture wounds to his abdomen, lesions to both his liver and left kidney… but we've managed to repair most of the damage, and his healing ability should be able to cope with the rest once he's a little stronger. My professional guess, although he's not out of the woods yet, is that, given time, he's going to be fine."

With this the Professor sighed in relief.

"There was however another, rather unexpected, complication." Hank explained at this, rubbing his forehead thoughtfully with his forefinger for a moment, before continuing. Professor Xavier failed to mask a frown of concern. "He's broken a couple of ribs."

"What? Did that happen in the attack?" The Professor asked.

"No, I'd say more recently than that." Hank sighed. "The fluid build up due to the inflammation in both his chest and abdominal cavity put a substantial amount of pressure on his ribcage. He could have done it on his way up to Jean's room this morning. Even something as simple as a slight fall or knock could have caused enough force to have been inflicted upon the bones, to have caused the break in his weakened state… he wouldn't necessarily have even realised, he would probably have put the extra, or, increased pain down to the injuries he sustained during the attack."

The professor sighed heavily with the gravity of this news, as he watched Jean through the slight crack which remained in the electronic doors of medical lab tentatively busying herself at Logan's unconscious side. "So what's our next move?" He asked.

"Well we'll have to wait for him to wake up first." Hank explained. "Could be within the next few hours, could be within the next few days. He's lost a lot of blood, both before and during the surgery, and I've got him on some pretty strong meds to help with the pain, but he was in quite a state. I don't want to push him until he's bodies really ready!"

"But you are worried?" Professor Xavier frowned, and Hank sighed. There was something about his old friend's tone of voice, which alerted the Professor to something troubling the blue mutant now, something which remained unspoken.

Hank smiled meekly. "I can't keep anything from you can I Charles?" He asked.

"You can only try." The Professor mused.

Hank sighed heavily, it was now his turn to glance in thoughtfully upon the scene which was currently unfolding before them in the medical lab. Jean meanwhile leant attentively over Logan's unconscious form, gently stroking the stray locks of his soft brown hair away from his clammy forehead, before carefully caressing his slightly damp skin with a cool cloth, her hand resting lightly against the fresh bandage swathed tightly around his abdomen as Hank carefully observed the both subtle and slight rise and fall of Logan's ribcage, before turning back to Charles.

"The longer it takes for him to wake up could be an indication that he's even weaker than we first thought." Hank explained, locking eyes seriously with the Professor with this, "He's body may be having a hard time readjusting after the surgery. We'll have to keep a very close eye on him for the next few hours, and throughout the next few days… but, whilst he's unconscious, he is being forced to rest at least, so perhaps this is all for the best in the long run."


	20. Chapter 20

**CHAPTER 19**

**Hey all, well I know that I have said that this story is on hitus... but it's not really! I just don't have to time to work on it as often as I may have been able to previously, but as you can see I am still upating as and when I can, just as it says in my profile! Well I know that it's been quite a while, but I really do hope that you enjoy this chapter! This chapter was originally intended to be much longer, but for writing simplicities sake I deicided to split it and turn it into two! Please do keep all of your REVIEWS coming! I love to hear what you think of my work, and you never know it might spure me on to write even more soon! Enjoy!**

When Logan finally opened his eyes a few hours later it took him a while for his eyes to adjust to the dim light of the room, and for his head to stop spinning. He felt vaguely nauseous, which may or may not have been to be expected, although the severe pain of before he'd fallen asleep had at least now calmed, to be replaced by a dull, although intense ache, and as the fog clouding his mind began to clear he was at least able to absorb some of the finer details of the room he was now in, and observed with vague comfort the figure of Jean smiling down at him from her post at his bedside. She looked exhausted.

He felt equally tired himself, and suspected that the cocktail of drugs still coursing through his system was worth the helpless fear and vulnerable anxiety of waking up to find himself still in this impossible situation if it had the apparent, and much desired effect of helping him with the pain. Although uncomfortable, his discomfort was at least bearable. But the IV line was making the back of his hand sore, and to focus on Jean's beautiful face in front of him, and Hank's promise that the worst would now all be over was all he could do to stop himself tearing it out.

Despite this however he was still in the worst pain he'd ever felt in his life, and Logan groaned.

"Hey." She smiled, tone silky soft with the evident relief at seeing him awake. Her skin was pale, her cheeks slightly flushed with pink but to Logan, in that moment, she was the most beautiful and precious sight he'd ever seen… because although he'd never admitted as much to Jean, he'd known the gravity of his own situation, he'd never been this close to death before, and before Hank had put him under he'd began to seriously doubt that he would ever lay eyes upon her again. "It's good to see you." She sighed, tears glistening in her dark brown eyes.

"Hey." He managed a weak croak in response as she gently took him by the hand, and he squeezed her palm between the fingers of his fist reassuringly. "How long have I been out?" He asked.

"A few hours." Jean responded affectionately with this, not taking her eyes off him for a moment. "How are you feeling?" She asked.

Logan had to stifle a weak laugh at this as he felt the contortion of his muscles pull tight in his chest and diaphragm, with a stab of sharp pain to his abdomen, and his breath caught in his chest, escaping as a sudden gasp, and causing him to cough. A succession of short, raspy breaths, which couldn't be calmed nor soothed, and each seemed to fuel the next, as all Logan could do was to massage his chest painfully.

"Shhh… easy!" Jean soothed, as she placed an oxygen mask over his mouth and nose at this. "Take deep breaths." She advised him, and as Logan did as she instructed he found that the addition of the cool air into his lungs really helped to calm the itch in the back of his throat and ease the convulsions of the muscles in his chest, until finally his cough eased and he was able to breathe normally again. "Better? She asked.

Logan nodded, before she gently removed the mask from his face, now satisfied that he was significantly recovered, and looping it around the oxygen stand at the side of his bed. "So?" She pressed, "How are you really feeling?"

"As though I've been sucked through Ceribro backwards." Logan smiled. "But better, I think." Before he turned to glance around his surroundings. "Hey, where's Blue?" He asked, observing his obvious absence from the room.

"Hank's resting." Jean explained. "He said he'd be back to check on you later. The surgery went well, but you sustained some extensive internal damage. We've managed to repair several deep lacerations and puncture wounds to your abdominal wall, and patch up what we could to the damage done to your left kidney and liver, you also sustained a ruptured spleen. However there were complications… you've also sustained a couple of broken ribs which didn't show up on the test results taken from when you initially arrived back at the mansion… Hank's best guess is that the fluid build up in your chest and abdominal cavity caused by the extent of your injuries put a massive amount of pressure on your ribcage… you could have done it at any time."

"That bad hugh?" Logan grunted.

"You'll need to rest for a long time yet." Jean explained. "And your healing abilities still haven't shown any sign of kicking in. Why didn't you tell me when you first started feeling sick Logan?" She asked, tone despairingly, and he could tell immediately that this was something which had probably been really bothering her the whole time he'd been unconscious. He could tell by the shaded, drawn look upon her face that she was hurting.

Logan shook his head. His eyes met with hers for a brief moment at this, his inky black orbs staring into her thick chocolate pools, her eyes glistened with love and concern, his own set harsh with cold, hard fear and defiant independence, before he averted her gaze. "I couldn't." He explained finally, voice beginning to break with suppressed emotion.

Despite her own evident emotional pains and frustration Jean nodded with this. "I understand Logan." She assured him, "I really do." They were all in their own way vaguely aware of Logan's troubled and painful past. What little of the small fragments of the puzzle he could recall still plagued him with nightmares and visions of a life he couldn't quite remember, or grasp hold of. She got to her feet with this, stretching stiffly as she stepped up to the foot of his bed, assessing Logan's chart before adjusting his IV line and taking note of his blood pressure and heart rate. "I'm just upset that you didn't seem to trust me enough to tell me how you were feeling. I'm not Stryker Logan, I'm not going to hurt you… I could never… surely you realise by now that none of us would ever do anything to harm you…"

"Of course…" Logan suddenly cut in with this, immediately reaching up to grasp her slender hand and stopping her short, in her tracks however. "Of course I trusted you enough…" He explained. "I do trust you… It's just… I don't know… I guess I'm still just too used to handling things alone." He faltered.

Jean looked down at him with this, stroking the calloused knuckles of his fist as he gently squeezed the palm of the hand he'd taken in his. She could see the sincerity in his dark eyes, and it melted any feelings of anger or frustration away in an instant. "I love you." He muttered.

"I love you to." She smiled, as with this Logan pulled her down onto the bed beside him, where she sat on the edge of the mattress, with his one warm arm, himself unable to rotate his body the entire way round to face her fully, wrapped tenderly around her waist.

They sat like this in silence for a long time, Jean listening out intently for Logan's leighboured breathing, as he lay there silently contented and revelling in her presence upon the hard but surprisingly comfortable mattress of the bed, behind her.

Logan was in fact just beginning to relax and drift into sleep when he was suddenly gripped be a searing pain to his abdomen, and cried out with the sudden shock of the sharp sensation. Jean immediately spun around with this, recognising the pained grimace on Logan's face with sudden alarm… and it didn't take her long to observe the reason for the other mutant's sudden cry of pain however, as he continued to groan slightly, rubbing at the bandage still swathed tightly around his abdomen.

As Jean pulled her hand away from where she'd been supporting herself, propped up against the fresh white cotton linen of Logan's bed she noticed that there was blood seeping at an alarming rate through the bandage, shielding Logan's wound from the outside atmosphere, and already beginning to spread, dripping and staining his sheets with scarlet red.

Jean was up and by his side in an instant, observing Logan's stats begin to rise with his sudden panic of seeing the blood. However, nobody could blame the normally level headed, unphased mutant for showing alarm after all he'd been through recently. As his respiration levels increased Jean did what she could to try and calm him, before reaching over and replacing the oxygen mask, placing it over his mouth and nose, and gently hooking it over his head and behind his ears, to help him breathe. She then worked to telepathically contact the Professor, closing her eyes, as the delicate tips of her fingers instinctively reached up towards the temples of her forehead in order to help her better focus her communication and concentrate.

"Professor," She called out to him. "Professor, I need Hank down here, something has happened with Logan." She explained

To her relief it didn't take long for her to feel the Professor's calming and reassuring influence wash over her however, as she immediately heard his voice speaking to her from inside her head, his tone deep and severe, although to her own exhausted and deeply troubled mind calming .

"Don't worry Jean." He advised her reassuringly. "Just stay with him." He instructed. "I'll let Hank know, and we'll be with you in a moment. Tell Logan to hang on in there."

"Thank you." Jean sighed, and as she felt his presence leave her as quickly as he'd appeared, she opened her eyes, a little less anxious, and a little more resolute at making Logan feel more comfortable for now, to see the figure of the man she loved groaning quietly in discomfort before her… and the image of seeing him continue to suffer so much, even now, when he'd been through so much already nearly broke her heart.


	21. Chapter 21

**CHAPTER 20**

**Second update in two days! Wow, this story is definitely no longer on hitus!**

A few minutes later Jean was relieved as the sliding doors parted behind her, to emit Hank and Professor Xavier into the medical lab. Logan's breathing continued to remain leighboured, taking rapid, deep breaths in and easier, more controlled ones out, still writhing slightly and groaning in discomfort, as it became evident that every movement, no matter how small, caused him pain. Despite all of this however his stats had slowly began to stabilise, although Jean had still been reluctant to remove his oxygen mask, as it became clear that the raged breaths he was taking required more effort than she was happy to accept was normal, and the pain that he was evidently currently in was making the whole process of breathing difficult. Her own anxiety growing over the quickly spreading patch of blood on Logan's bandages.

Hank hadn't even had to ask what had happened as he made his way over, the scarlet stain had been evident even from their small distance, and the Professor sighed gravely with this, as Jean and Hank exchanged a silent glance between them.

"He's torn his stitches!" Hank observed urgently at this. "Logan, I need you to remain as still as possible!" He instructed him, before setting to work gathering new medical supplies from the nearby cupboards, fresh reels of stitches, sterile gauze dressings and bandages as Jean went to work gently removing the now bloodstained ones swathed around his abdomen.

The Professor made his way over with this, sensing Logan's distress. Quietly positioning himself just behind Logan's head, hands placed either side of his skull, and bending over slightly.

"Just try to relax Logan." He reassured him, and as Logan tilted his head back slightly to catch a glimpse of the Professor behind him he realised that the voice was coming from the inside of his own head. "Just focus on my voice Logan." He spoke to him. "Listen to me… everything's going to be alright."

The Professor was refocusing him, taking his mind off what was going on around him. In some small corner at the back of his mind Logan was aware of what was happening to him, as Hank, now at his side, began to cut away at the bloody gauze and bandage, but he couldn't quite bring himself to focus on his situation. No matter how hard he tried, he could feel the Professor routing around inside his mind, creating a series of mental barriers between himself and whatever it was which was causing him the most fear, reducing his anxiety.

Logan realised what it must be taking out of the Professor to do this for him, and he was grateful. But he couldn't allow him to keep putting himself on the line like this, and so, instinctively, he tried to fight against him. Tried to break down the mental barriers created, by focusing harder on what was going on around him, and the situation in hand… not realising that the more he fought the more exhausted the Professor became.

"Don't fight it Logan." He heard the Professor speak with this. "Let me help you."

"No… Professor please." Logan protested however, clenching his teeth tightly together with the effort it was taking him to resist the Professor's efforts. "You can't!"

"You can be a stubborn, frustrating weight on my mind sometimes Logan." The Professor chucked with this. "But if you want to turn this into a competition between the two of us, you can't win!" And with this Logan, realising that he was beaten, closed his eyes resignedly, and let the Professors calming influence wash over him. He realised that he couldn't match Xavier's telepathic strength, and didn't want to fight him. He just took comfort in the fact now, that at least he had such good friends.

"Thank you." He sighed, in gratitude to his good friend and menor.

"Don't mention it." Professor Xavier smiled.

Suddenly however the frantic commotion going on around him ceased as Hank stripped away the last layer of bandage and revealed the bare and seeping raw flesh of Logan's abdomen beneath. The Professor was evidently distracted by what he saw, as his line of communication with Logan was instantly disrupted, and, now able to focus more clearly on what was going on around him Logan turned to see Jean smiling as he observed Hank return the gesture.

"No." The slender young red head responded, with some relief, at this. "He's rejected them!"


	22. Chapter 22

**Chapter 21**

**Hello everyone, I'm back! Sorry it's been a while, but this latest chapter is just a little offering to all of my lovely and loyal readers who have stuck with me and continue to stick with this story! I know it's slow! I am exceptionally busy at the moment as I keep pointing out, but this is just to show you that I am still keeping with this story, and working on it when I get the chance! Hopefully you will enjoy this chapter, and please don't forget to REVIEW! Thank you for your continued support!**

Hank had Logan lightly sedated whilst he cleaned and re-dressed the open wounds. It wasn't a prospect which the other mutant had warmed to, he'd flinched noticeably as the needle containing the milky white liquid had pierced the skin in his upper arm, and Hank had felt bad for turning his friend into a human pin-cushion for the numerate time that day. The only other alternative had been to fit Logan with another IV line however, enabling the blue mutant to inject his patient's medicine directly into the bloodstream, although Logan had already reacted badly to the drip inserted in the back of his hand, his skin around the area of the puncture mark swollen and sore, probably a result of his bodies lack of any real need of medical intervention in the past… and the doctor hadn't wanted to cause him any more pain and discomfort than was absolutely necessary. Jean had held his hand, speaking soothingly in Logan's ear as Hank had administered the drug, empting the contents of the hypodermic into the other mutant's bloodstream, doing her best to calm him. Logan had cried out initially as the needle had pierced his flesh, and she'd held him tight and close to her body; slowly however his whole body had gradually started to relax in her arms, his eyes growing heavier, and his breathing slowed.

Despite his friend's best efforts however, Logan was clearly still suffering, even now. In a state of semi-consciousness, he continued to writhe and groan, struggling to resist his natural instincts to recoil and flinch away from Hank's gentle touch, as the doctor carefully examined the angry wound to his abdomen. Jean looked on concerned, and struggling to conceal the pain in her own eyes as she was forced to watch the man whom she loved in such state of discomfort and sufferance, from her position where she was busy preparing fresh dressings.

Finally Hank took a step back from Logan, patting him reassuringly on the shoulder. "I'm sorry Logan." He sighed, before turning to Jean and the Professor. "I'm going to have to knock him out again." He explained gravely. "I'm going to use an inhalational anaesthetic this time though, just to keep him sedated for the next few hours. I'm not comfortable with injecting him again unnecessarily if it's going to cause him further distress… Jean, could you prepare the canisters for me?" He asked.

The young woman nodded, placing a number of gauze dressings and a roll of bandage back down on the table with this as she made her way over to a small row of canisters at the edge of the bed.

"Now Logan," Hank sighed, turning back to his patient, carefully removing the breathing tube from under his nose, and placing an oxygen mask over his face which was connected to one of the canisters located directly behind Logan's head, looping the elastic over the top of his cranium. "I know you can hear me… I'm going to have to knock you out again, so when I tell you to I need you to take a few deep breaths for me alright?" He explained. "You might begin to feel a little light headed at first, but the combination of gases I'm about to give you will make you feel quite sleepy rather quickly so don't panic."

Logan nodded, slightly groggily at this, and Hank looked up at Jean, who nodded, indicating that she was ready.

"OK Logan." The doctor instructed. "I want you to take a few deep breaths in for me now… not too many, don't force yourself. Once you start to feel tired, or heavy I want you to resume normal breathing again."

With this all three watched the laboured rise and fall of the injured mutants ribcage and diaphragm.

As Logan took in several long deep breaths of the intoxicating gas, Hank extracted a stethoscope from the pocket of his white jacket, and, placing it against his patient's chest wall, used it to monitor Logan's general condition, and heart rate. Finally, within only a few short moments as Logan's breathing slowed, his breaths becoming shallower, his head lolled to one side, and his eyes finally closed Hank withdrew the appliance, and nodded, lifting his patient's eyelids to check his pupils reaction to stimuli. "He's out." He concluded.

With this Jean removed the oxygen mask, and replaced it with another, this time connected up to a canister filtering only forty percent oxygen, and returned to preparing the dressings for Logan's wounds. Not before placing a tender kiss upon Logan's forehead, and gently brushing the stray strands of his hair away from his clammy face however.

When Hank had finally finished cleansing and cleaning the angry wound he ushered Xavier aside whilst he waited for Jean to finish preparing the bandages and dressings.

"I won't lie to you Charles." He sighed, observing the Professor's concerned frown, the deep worry lines etched into his forehead. "Although Logan's rejection of his stitches is a good sign, meaning that his healing abilities must now be getting slightly stronger, it does present us with a rather complex problem. We cannot leave the wound open for too long, otherwise the risk of infection is just too great, and we have no idea how long it may still take in order for him to heal completely."

"Then what do you propose we do?" The Professor asked.

"I suggest that we keep him sedated for a little while longer." Hank suggested, taking a long, hard look at his patient with this, Jean having now already positioned herself lovingly by his side, before turning back to Charles. "Hopefully this may give his body some time to recover, and in time aid and speed up the process of his recovery."

Xavier nodded in bleak agreement.

"I'm going to do everything I can to help Logan." The blue mutant explained reassuringly as the Professor followed him back to the examination table.

"I know you are." The older man responded, and the two shared a subtle, but mutual smile.

Professor Xavier then continued to watch in silence for a moment as Hank redressed Logan's wounds, applying gauze down the whole length of his abdomen before swathing him in bandages… observing Jean's drawn and tired expression. He couldn't help but worry about the young woman, almost as much as he worried about Logan, as he watched as the doctor injected Logan with another concoction of drugs.

"That should keep him calm, for now." Hank explained "The painkiller I've just given him should last for another few hours at least, which should give him the chance to get some rest." He aimed a reassuring and affectionate wink in Jean's direction at this, and the young red head couldn't help but smile.

Finally, when Hank had finished, the Professor spoke.

"I'm going to use Ceribro to try and trace Magneto's whereabouts." He explained.

"Do you think that's such a good idea?" Hank asked, appearing immediately alarmed by his friend's statement as he aimed an uncertain glace in Xavier's direction with this. "I mean, look at what he did to Logan Charles, we don't know what he might be capable of."

"That's exactly why I need to find him Hank." The older man explained. "I need to know why he did this. Magneto's ruthless, but he'd never normally intentionally maim one of his own kind."

"I guess you've forgotten what he did to Rogue then?" Jean remarked bitterly, as she ran her fingers delicately through Logan's hair, interlocking her palm with his limp fist.

"Not without reason…" Xavier elaborated. "It's just not his style… Hank would you fill Scott and Storm in on the latest developments for me?" He asked, after a moments pause for grave contemplation. "Magneto's proven in the past to be not exactly the easiest of mutants to find… this may take some time."

"Of course." Hank nodded, performing a few final checks on Logan's condition; adjusting his drip, taking one final look at his chart and noting down his most recent set of vital signs and details of the medication he'd administered, before, finally satisfied, turning to leave with his old friend.

Before finally departing from the room however the Professor turned back to look at Jean, who was still sitting unmoving at Logan's bedside, lightly stroking his bandages lovingly with her smooth and delicate fingers. He frowned.

"Are you alright?" He asked.

She nodded, turning to glance wearily in his direction. Her eyes were bloodshot, her beautiful skin pale… and it became clear that the strain of the situation was beginning to get to her. But Jean was a strong woman; the Professor had raised all of his students to be wilful, and independent individuals, and now Jean was stronger than even he'd ever thought possible. She'd find a way to work her way through this, and come out unscathed at the other end… of that he was confident.

"Yes, thank you Professor." She smiled. "I'm just going to sit with him for a while, if that's alright?"

Professor Xavier nodded, smiling warmly at the young woman with this. "Let us know if you need anything… or if there's any change." He advised.

"I will." She promised, turning back to begin her anxious vidual at Logan's unconscious form at this, and with that Hank and the Professor made their way from the room, leaving Jean and Logan alone together.


	23. Chapter 23

**Chapter 22**

**I'M BACK! YAY! The next chapter is FINALLY up, and I'd like to thank you all so much for being so patient with me and letting me know how much you continue to enjoy this story without being too pushy for the next update! I am getting there very slowely, but I'm so busy that it is taking me a lot longer than I thought! Hopefully this gives you all reassurance though that I AM continuing to work on it, and just to please stick with it for as long as it takes... hopefully it will be worth it! Oh and please don't forget to ****REVIEW****! It's the only way to try and gaurantee a quicker update, because I do so love to read them! ENJOY!**

A short while later Hank, Storm, Scott and Jean – who had by now rejoined the small group – awaited Professor Xavier's return in his office. The young redhead hadn't remained behind in Logan's room for too long after the two men had left her to her on lonely vidual and quiet contemplation, and had rejoined them all in the Professor's office barely a quarter of an hour later, explaining that Logan was now resting much more peacefully and there was nothing more they could do for him for now.

The Professor had by now been gone with Ceribro for close to an hour however, and everyone was beginning to feel the strain of the situation, they all anxiously awaited the Professor's return and what news he mat have of Magneto, and you cut of cut the atmosphere in the room with a knife.

Jean was the only one who didn't appear unduly anxious about her friend and mentor's prolonged absence, having had dealings with Ceribro herself on a couple of occasions she knew firsthand that she could be temperamental and difficult to handle, and Magneto was not one of the easiest mutants to have to track, however Scott had become increasingly impatient and agitated as the time had ticked on, threatening to go and find out for himself what exactly it was that was going on and keeping the Professor so long, and it was only Hank's calming intervention which prevented him from doing so.

The gentle natured blue mutant had a kindly disposition which seemed to rub off on most, having a positive effect on those he happened to come into contact with, and especially his friends – it's what helped to make him such a good doctor.

Finally however Xavier returned, to find each member of the small group in various degrees of anxious anticipation for what he had to say. Jean, who had been sitting precariously perched on the edge of his desk, got to her feet immediately as he entered the room, Hank and Storm who'd been perched either side of the Professor's old leather couch looked to him enquiringly, and Scott who's been anxiously pacing the length of the office impatiently like a caged animal turned and looked over as he closed the door behind him.

"I've managed to locate Magneto." He revealed, glancing at each of them in turn as he made his way over to his desk. Scott, now emotionally and physically exhausted by the sheer amount of pacing he'd been doing over the preceding half an hour slumped down in a nearby chair to listen.

"It would appear that he and his Brotherhood have set up base just a few miles south of the abandoned ammunitions factory." He continued. "There's no sign of the gang of youths who ambushed you during your last mission however." He explained gravely, cupping his fingers together under his chin in deep thought as he spoke. "I suspect that they were probably a decoy, probably bribed by Magneto to take the focus off him for a while, and then sent their separate ways when the time was right… he probably realised that we'd show up sooner or later."

"But what exactly is Magneto up to?" Jean asked. "And where have the young group disappeared to, that's what concerns me… they're just children."

"I don't know." The Professor responded with a grave shake of his head as he shrugged his shoulders with a meek and heavy sigh. "But that's what I intend to find out." He continued, before turning to address Scott. "Scott I want you to take me there." He asked, with some degree of urgency now that they had managed to pinpoint Magneto's exact location… they had no idea how much time they had before he might move on again. "That is if you can spare the time."

"Of course." Scott nodded.

"I want to go with you." Storm who'd been quietly listening in to the pairs urgent conversation with a concerned ear, suddenly cut in however, getting to her feet as she slowly made her way over in the direction of the window behind the Professor's desk to look down at the vast expanse of grounds below. Many of the students were making the most of the surprisingly warm weather, and she smiled as she watched them playing next to the fountain, and basking in the sun; they lead such blissfully sheltered lives here she thought sadly to herself, ignorant of the prejudice which went on all around them, just on the outskirts of the mansion's perimeter, in the outside world.

She turned back to the Professor. "Let me come with you." She insisted with anxious worry burning in her eyes.

But the Professor simply shook her head. "I have to do this alone." He assured her with a small smile. "I can't chance putting anybody else at risk, and the fewer people I take the better…"

He reached out and took Storm's cool palm in his, squeezing her slender fingers affectionately. "Besides," He smiled, "I need you here to take care of the students whilst we're gone. Jean and Hank will have their hands full with Logan, and he's going to need a lot of care and looking after for a long time yet… who else can I trust to run the Institute whilst I'm gone?" He asked.

Storm looked at him, holding his intense and searching gaze for a moment, holding back the tears which threatened to fall, and glistened in her eyes. He was right, she knew he was right. Of course the pupils needed to be taken into consideration too in all this, they too would be scared and confused, kept in the dark and unaware of what was going on – and they'd need somebody who understood all that, and how that felt, in which to turn to. Even so she couldn't shake off her concerns.

Finally she nodded, smiling meekly however. "Just promise me you'll be careful." She sighed.

Professor Xavier smiled. "I promise." He assured her, reaching out to grasp her other hand with this and squeezing them both simultaneously in a gesture of reassurance. "You know I'm so proud of you." He smiled.

As Storm bent down to hug him, wrapping he slender arms around his shoulders in a warm and affectionate embrace, she only allowed a few of her long suppressed tears to fall.

"Thank you." She smiled. "For giving us all hope… for giving me something to cling onto."

When the meeting was finally concluded; Jean had retuned to check on Logan, Storm had gone to check on the students and Scott had been sent to prepare the X-Jet, Hank turned to Xavier and sighed however, evidently concerned by the risk his old friend seemed to be about to take.

"Are you sure this is the right thing Charles?" He asked him gravely. "You know what Magneto did to Logan, if you get in his way there's no guarantee he won't do the same to you to!"

But the Professor simply shook his head.

"Erik is one of my closest and dearest friends… and yet I know I can't trust him." He sighed. "No, I'm not Hank." He confessed finally. "But I'm afraid at this moment I can't think what else there is to be done."


	24. Chapter 24

**Chapter 23**

When Jean made her way slowly back down to the medical lab a few minutes later she was surprised to see that as she stepped out of the lift, connecting the lower recesses of the mansion to the more recognisable upper levels of what on first glance appeared to be a more traditional American boarding school, she found herself almost colliding into the back of Rogue.

The young girl appeared distracted, failing to notice her older friend and mentor however. Jean held back for a while, watching as she paced slowly down the length of the long corridor, wringing her pale hands together anxiously before stopping outside the entrance to the infirmary, hesitating slightly as she again reached up to tentatively stroke the blonde highlights in her hair, and place a gentle palm against the door.

Jean watched her from afar for a moment, as she subconsciously ran her slender and supple fingers delicately through her long locks of the white hair, running tiny strands distractedly through her clammy fingers and rubbing at the tips with her fore-digit and thumb.

She looked in that moment as though she had the weight of the world on her shoulders, and the young redhead knew and understood exactly why – she'd been a troubled and lonely teenager when Logan had first found her… or perhaps it was she who had found him, isolated from humanity and even her own kind, left deprived of and craving human contact due to the very nature of her mutation.

It was the very worst kind of lonely Jean thought sadly to herself, to love, and be as loved as Rogue was, but to never know what it must feel like to experience a proper hug from a friend, or to be able to kiss the boy that she loved without killing him.

Xavier's Institute for gifted youngsters had brought her back from the brink, it had given her hope to be amongst other young people like herself for the first time in her life, and had shown both Logan and Rogue a new way of life.

Logan had once made her a promise to keep her safe, rescuing her from the destructive clutches of Magneto, then too almost at the cost of his own life, and since then they'd both been very close. Rogue frequently looked to the often gruff appearing mutant for reassurance and support, his presence often appearing to help make her feel safe, and Jean's heart and all her sympathies went out to the young girl now as she watched the first flow of her tears begin to fall, trickling down her pale cheeks, and Rogue quickly swiped them away angrily.

Jean sighed. "Why don't you go in?" She asked.

Rogue, unaware of Jean's presence, immediately gave a start with this, reeling around as she jumped noticeably, and gave a small sigh of relief as she recognised the young redhead standing behind her.

"Jean…" She gasped. "You scared me."

Jean smiled sympathetically. "Sorry." She apologised, taking a fresh tissue from her front trouser pocket as she made her way over, and holding it out for the young girl to take. Rogue accepted it gratefully, drying her deep brown, but dark and sunken eyes and blowing her nose.

From this short distance however Jean was able to observe the young girl more closely, taking in her tired and drawn expression, her eyes still slightly swollen, and bloodshot from recent tears. She hadn't paid much attention to her, nor any of the other students for that matter over the preceding few days, her concern for Logan's continued recuperation and recovery having taken up most her time. Now however it became clear that although she was holding up the situation and her own evidently deep concern for Logan was obviously beginning to take it's toll, and as Rogue looked up at her and smiled, Jean reassuringly returned the gesture.

"You've been here for quite a while." She observed kindly, unwittingly revealing exactly how long she'd been standing watching the young girl. "Struggling with the decision as to whether you should go in… you look like you've got the most important decision in the world to have to make."

"I wasn't sure what I was going to find…" Rogue explained despondently, her tone almost slightly fearful as she spoke. "Nobody's told us anything, apart from that he's very ill" She faltered, choking back more tears which threatened to fall as she did so.

Jean sighed, fixing her with a grave but sympathetic stare.

"I'm not going to lie to you Rogue." She explained at last, with a heavy intake and exhale of breath. The young girl had obviously been left deeply distressed by the situation, and although they had all come to the same conclusion as the Professor, that the students all needed to be kept as blissfully unaware of the situation as possible, she couldn't allow her to go on worrying herself as deeply distracted as she so obviously had done.

She sighed. "He's still very sick." She explained with this. "But the surgery went as well as could be expected, and we're now just trying to keep him quiet and as relaxed as possible. He's going to need to get plenty of rest over the next few days."

"Is he in pain?" Rogue asked.

"He's holding on in there." Jean considered her answer carefully, faltering as she finally responded however. "Look," She explained gently, "we're trying to keep the situation as quiet as possible so as not to alarm the other students. But I know Logan means a lot to you, and so I'm sure under the circumstances the Professor would not mind if you knew a little bit more about Logan's condition."

She fixed Rogue with a serious look at this, taking in the young girl's reaction, before continuing.

"His liver and kidney were both punctured during the attack." She revealed. "He sustained a ruptured spleen which lead to some significant internal damage and bleeding, and a number of fractured ribs which resulted from a build up of fluid around his chest wall and diaphragm… he's comfortable, but not completely pain free. Hank has got him on some pretty strong pain meds though which are keeping a cap on his pain at present."

Rogue struggled to take this information in at first, appearing initially alarmed by this fresh, although initially overwhelming wave of information.

Taking a moment to absorb the gravity of what Jean had just told her she appeared slightly ill at ease, her eyes wide with fear and shock as she failed to disguise her anxiety, before she seemed finally able to regain control over her emotions, and nodded slowly, although uncertainly in understanding.

She turned again to look longingly in the direction of the door to the medical lab – her gaze settled unwaveringly upon her only way into the one room of the mansion which nobody ever wanted to have to enter, for a few seconds lost in thought, before Jean finally spoke again.

"Why don't you go in?" She smiled, repeating her previous question of earlier. "He'll be glad to see you."

Rogue looked at her with this, and Jean could see the silent terror clearly in her eyes. Logan had been the first of her own kind she'd ever come across. He was her best friend, and sworn protector, the young woman realised that it was only natural that she should fear losing him now.

"I'm scared." The young girl finally confessed at last however. "He's always seemed so strong in the past."

She held her gaze for a few moments longer before turning away and looking to the floor.

But Jean simply shook her head with a reassuring smile painted gently onto her soft and beautiful face.

"And now it's our turn to be strong for him." She explained with a small grin. "Talk to him, let him know everything's going to alright. Give him strength to fight and carry on, and let him know you're here for him."

Jean gently took the young girl by the shoulders, and led her to the infirmary door.

"What do I say?" Rogue asked, uncertainty and self-doubt consuming her with this however.

"Anything you want." Jean assured her. "Whatever you would normally talk about… just remember it's alright to be upset, but don't let him see you're afraid, it will only worry him further. Keep things positive." She advised.

Rogue nodded.

"He's still heavily bandaged." Jean continued, gently informing her of what she should expect once she entered the room… none of them having occasion to see Logan in his current state, nor condition before – least of all Rogue, who Logan had always done his best to protect in the past. "And on oxygen and a drip… but this is all fairly normal… I'll be right out here if you need anything."

Rogue hesitated a few moments longer outside the door, scrubbing away at her few remaining tears with the palms of her hands until she felt that her skin was dry again, and her cheeks were pink with friction marks.

As she stood on the threshold between the medical lab and the long although completely comfortless corridor however she turned back to face Jean one final time.

"Just promise me you won't let anything happen to him." She pleaded quietly to the older woman under her breath, before turning away. The double electronic sliding doors finally glided open to admit her entry into Logan's room, and with all the strength she could muster she painted on the brightest smile and adopted the bravest face she could possibly manage under the circumstances.

"I promise I'll try." Jean sighed sadly to herself, watching her go, and realising that although she hadn't said as much to Rogue Logan's situation was still a grave and worrying one. "We're doing everything we can."


	25. Chapter 25

**Chapter 24**

Jean watched her from afar as Rogue made her way cautiously over to Logan's bedside. The young girl swallowed hard as she observed Logan's unconscious form laying motionless upon the cold, hard medical table, biting back the fear which threatened to consume her as the gentle rise and fall of Logan's chest and ribcage was the only small indication that he was even still alive.

The heart monitor he was hooked up to kept a constant vidual over his heart rate and respirations with a steady rhythmic beat, and the oxygen mask covering his mouth and nose ensured that he was supplied with a consistent flow of highly oxygenated air.

Rogue touched him delicately on the shoulder as she approached and the cold leather of the gloves which she wore to cover the potent touch of the skin on her fingers throughout all hours of the days and night sent an icy shiver though Logan's warm and clammy body with this, and he stirred but did not awake.

"Logan…" Rogue whispered gently, bending down beside him as she spoke. Her sweet breath caressed his fevered and slightly flushed cheeks as she did so however and he let out a small groan as though even this slight contact brought on another wave of pain.

"Logan, it's me, Rogue, can you hear me?" She asked as she gently stroked the stray strands of his damp brown hair, limp with sweat and cool perspiration, away from his forehead. He shifted in his state of semi-consciousness, involuntarily rolling onto his side and letting out a strangled sob of pain as he resulted in putting too much pressure on his still tender abdomen as he did so.

Rogue observed his slightly bloodied bandages, the carefully placed IV line feeding a steady drip of saline and a cocktail of drugs into a vein in the back of his hand.

She wasn't sure what she was supposed to do… what she was supposed to say. All she'd been able to think about over the past few days had been Logan, that she'd had to find a way to convince the Professor and Jean to allow her to see him, that she'd needed reassurance that he was going to be alright… now however as she looked down at him before her, looking so pale and evidently so ill she felt completely out of her depth.

She turned back to Jean for reassurance only to find that the medical room door had closed behind her as she'd entered, leaving just herself and the unconscious Logan inside… Jean must have remained on the opposite side of the electronic sliding panel, outside in the corridor… Rogue now felt totally alone.

"Logan…" She pressed, turning back to face him, her southern tone soft and wavering slightly with suppressed emotion, although she managed to keep a steady handle of her fraught nerves. "Logan…"

With this Logan began to stir at the sound of the young girl's voice. He emitted another deep and muffled sigh as he slowly opened his eyes, and groaned as the sharp light of the nearby lamp stung his retinas. As his blurred and hazy vision finally began to clear however and Rogue's slender figure came into view before him he blinked away his weariness, a bemused frown etched into his pale features.

"Hey kid." He smiled weakly with a small sigh at this, recognition slowly dawning on him. Her big beautiful eyes bore into him searchingly, glistening in the light of the room.

"Hey," She grinned, looking anxiously down at him as she took in every minute detail of his pasty expression, from this distance, still tinged with a thin sheen of sweat.

Logan too looked up at Rogue anxiously, the rhythmic rise and fall of his diaphragm and ribcage increasing slightly and becoming more erratic as the blissful ignorance of sleep began to wear off and his pain now gradually started to increase.

"What are you doing here?" He asked her.

"I had to see you." She explained meekly, before continuing slightly hesitantly. "How are you feeling?"

Logan sighed. "A little better." He replied with a small nod. "Hank's got me on some pretty strong pain meds which are taking the edge off the pain."

He groaned and adjusted his position slightly with this however. Rogue looked down at him with concern, disbelieving his words. She suspected that he was probably still in more pain than he was caring to let on, but managed to fight back her anxieties, remembering Jean's words. With this Logan reached up and grasped hold of one of her gloved hands, squeezing it gently and, sensing her distress, offering her a reassuring if not somewhat slightly weak wink.

She forced a smile.

They remained in this position for a few moments longer, each seeking consolation and reassurance in the other's presence; Logan in the company and friendship of the young woman, and Rogue in the fact that he was at least for now holding up – when finally Logan shattered the comforting silence between them.

"How are the other students?" He asked.

Rogue nodded, withdrawing her hand gently from his grasp as she did so. "They're fine." She responded. "They're all worried about you though… we're missing your sessions in the danger room." She faltered. "Let's just say that Scott and Storm's lack your element of danger. I never thought I could miss hard work so much."

Logan returned the gesture warmly, grimacing slightly however as his most recent dose of pain medication began to wear off. "You just let them know to make the most of it, I'll be back with them soon." He reassured her. "Don't let them give up on the practice sessions."

He was suddenly overcome with a weak and wracking cough which ceased his diaphragm and ribcage however, his breath coming out in a series of short, shallow, raspy breaths.

"I won't." She promised, placing a gentle finger against his lips to stifle his words and silence him gently, waiting patiently for the fit to ease, disguising her anxiety before continuing. "But not until you're completely recovered…" She eased. "You need to focus on getting better first, you haven't been yourself in such a long time. I know you've tried to hide it, but we've all noticed."

He chuckled warmly, rubbing at the bandages still swathed around his abdomen. "I guess I'm just getting old." He responded.

"Never." She smiled, shaking her head, taking him by the hand, and rubbing the back of the cold limb affectionately with her palm. It was her turn now to have to reassure him, attempting to offer him at least some comfort by this small gesture. "You just need to rest."

At this the doors to the infirmary slid open however, disrupting the conversation, and Rogue immediately looked over to see who it was who had entered, noticing as she did so Jean, standing in the doorway. The young redhead smiled as her eyes met with the young girl's across the room.

"I think it's time to let Logan get some rest now." She advised her kindly, and Rogue nodded, immediately returning the gesture as she turned back to Logan.

"I'll see you soon." She promised, getting to her feet from where she'd perched herself precariously on one of the nearby stools near Logan's bed, stretching as her stiff and aching muscles and joints slotted painfully back into place. "Just promise me you'll concentrate on getting better." She urged him, as she turned to leave and Logan let out a weak sigh in understanding.

Jean smiled at the young girl as she made her way over, stopping and turning to address her as Rogue passed her on her way out of the infirmary. "Well done." She smiled, squeezing her gently on the shoulder as she did so. "I'll be up later if you want to talk." She offered.

Rogue nodded, the young redhead observing her route quietly as she watched the young girl go, before finally, turning back to Logan.

"How's the pain?" Jean asked, with a knowing glint in her eye once Rogue had left the room.

"Bad." He confessed, rolling over slightly onto his side and rubbing at his abdomen tentatively… at least now that Rogue was gone he didn't have to worry about keeping up the act any longer, and he sighed.

Jean nodded in understanding, making her way around to the end of his bed to take a closer look at his more recent medical records. She didn't have to be telepathic to tell that he was obviously suffering greatly, she could tell by the pained look in his eyes, and the agonised grimace carved into his forced expression. She'd seen from a distance his pale complexion, tinged with grey, the thin sheen of sweat beginning to prickle on his forehead, and his increased respirations with the erratic rise and fall of his chest and ribcage.

She read through both her own and Hank's comprehensive notes in the chart carefully, taking in the long list of most recent medications administered, the various battery of tests which had been ordered and carried out over the past twenty-four hours, and their resulting finds and his vital signs. Finally, when she was eventually satisfied she replaced the chart and looked back over at Logan.

"Hank wants to take a look at you first." She informed him gently. "I'll let him know that you're in pain… do you think you can hold on until then?" She asked, her soft effeminate features hardened with worry lines and an anxiety which she was finding increasingly difficult to conceal.

Logan nodded weakly, closing his eyes again wearily as a fresh wave of exhaustion enveloped him, threatening to take hold. He could barely register or concentrate on anything for very long outside of his immediate haze of pain at the moment.

"Just keep holding on in there Logan." Jean sighed wistfully, looking on down at him with love and compassion oozing from her deep brown eyes, and squeezing his nearest leg reassuringly beneath the sheets.

"I'm holding on for you." He whispered, speech slightly slurred as he began to slip into yet another state of restless and troubled sleep, broken inevitably only by the excruciating and unbearable height of his pain.


	26. Chapter 26

**Chapter 25**

**YAY! Chapter 25 is now up, and hopefully Chapter 26 will be too soon! Please don't forget to REVIEW!**

When Hank returned almost half an hour later Jean, true to her word, advised the other doctor of their patient's condition in the moments prior to his return, and of the young Rogue's visit.

She'd looked exhausted, and Hank had nodded kindly in understanding as she'd voiced her concerns. Her complexion, rather than tinged with it's usually healthy flush, was pale, her eyes sunken in their sockets, and surrounded by dark shadows, her cheeks painted with an angry shade of rose.

It hadn't taken the trained and experienced eye of the kindly blue mutant long to recognise that she was probably into her seventy-second hour without any significant length of sleep – although his initial suggestion that she needed to take a break from her vidual over Logan's bedside for a few hours hadn't been too well received, despite the fact that her body was evidently beginning to feel the strain.

He had known the young red head long enough to know that her individual strength and merit didn't come entirely from her unique gifts alone, he was stubborn and wilful when she wanted to be, with a huge heart, and an even greater capacity for human compassion and understanding. Hank had remained adamant on the subject however, and even Jean had had to finally admit defeat, realising that her own body could not withstand the demands being made on it once sleep deprivation began to set in, and had reluctantly relented – resigning herself to the need for a few hours proper sleep.

There could be no denying however the evidence of their own eyes and observations as far as Logan's condition was concerned. He was still very evidently in a significant amount pain and discomfort, and as Hank was left alone with Logan for the fist time since his surgery, and since his healing abilities had first shown the initial signs of beginning to take effect, he struggled to conceal his own anxieties.

The kindly blue mutant was still concerned over the state of the other mutants continually deteriorating health, and the fact could not be ignored that since the initial rejection of his stitches Logan had since shown no further sign or indication that he was beginning to feel any better and they were quickly running out of options.

He was still evidently in more pain than Hank would have ideally liked at this stage, and was running a mild fever, which wasn't entirely unexpected after all he'd been through, although still of some significant concern – and he'd began to experience some difficulty in breathing, prompting Hank to make the difficult decision to put him back on oxygen in order to elevate any respiratory distress.

He'd decided that Logan probably needed to start eating again – but after all the mutant had been through over the past few days he realised that he'd probably still be reluctant, quite understandably so – and Hank had no idea how he might react to this suggestion, nor even how his body may react to the introduction of solid food back into his system.

But Logan's body was failing, his system was weak from a lack of nutrition, and whilst this remained to be the case his healing abilities had little or no chance of returning back to action.

The kindly blue mutant sighed, making his way over to the wall phone in the corner of the room at this, before picking up the receiver and dialling the Professor's internal line – where he was aware Storm had been left to take care of his office whilst he was way. He didn't dare risk disturbing Jean, if she was finally now resting proper for the first time in days.

Logan, apparently still exhausted, appeared to remain oblivious to his entire conversation with the young mutant however, and even when Colossus appeared a couple of minutes later carrying a tray baring a single slice of bread and butter, and a half filled glass of water he did not stir until the moment Hank approached him, placing the tray down upon the small instrument table nearby.

"So, how am I doing blue?" Logan groaned weakly, forcing his eyes open – still heavy with apparent exhaustion – as he sensed the other mutant standing over him.

Hank sighed. "Well I know that you're probably not going to like what I'm going to ask you to do next." He explained sympathetically, smiling slightly as Logan reached up one shaky hand to remove the oxygen mask covering his mouth and nose. "But I need to see you eat something."

Logan grimaced with the thought of this. "You're right blue, I don't." He confessed.

"You should be feeling better by now." Hank frowned, as Logan began to shift uncomfortably, subtly adjusting his position until he was finally sitting upright, as Hank made his way over to the tray of food, and returned wafting a saucer bearing a single slice of bread and butter under Logan's nose.

"A man can't live off saline alone." He smiled reassuringly, with a small laugh.

The ailing mutant grimaced at the sight of the small plate in front of him however, swallowing hard as the smell of the freshly baked bread and greasy butter assaulted his nostrils, making his stomach churn.

He hesitated, reluctant to eat the doctor's meagre offerings, but looking into the blue mutant's face saw his expression, set and resolute – determined to see patient at least attempt to eat something – and realised that he wasn't going to win.

Logan sighed painfully – he convinced that he wasn't going to be able to keep anything down… but how could he know if he didn't at least try.

Reluctantly he lifted the slice of bread to his dry and cracked lips, slowly taking a bite – quickly followed by a second, and then a third until, within less than a minute, he devoured the entire slice.

Hank smiled down at him warmly, although the effect upon Logan's digestive system was almost immediate, as, as soon as the bread began it's descent down into his digestive track his stomach began to churn painfully, and the hot bile began to rise in his throat.

Logan swallowed hard in an attempt to keep his meagre meal down, but as his already pale complexion blanched, the beads of sweat trickling down his pale forehead, Hank recognised this patient's distress immediately, and frowned.

"Logan, are you alright?" He asked.

Logan nodded, taking a sudden gulp of air before responding. "I'm… fine…" He replied breathlessly, but the doctor recognised what was about to happen and quickly reached for a near by kidney dish, just as Logan gagged and vomited violently ino the bowl.

He sighed, rubbing the other mutant's back soothingly as his ribs and diaphragm continued to convulse, heaving and gagging until there was nothing left for him to bring back up… it was clear that Logan was still no better now than when he'd first became ill.

When the contractions which had suddenly wracked his body finally ceased however and Logan was finally able to relax he lay back, breathing heavily.

"I'm sorry…" He apologised as Hank replaced the oxygen mask, and smiled reassuringly – a concerned expression now plaguing his features however, despite his attempts to conceal it.

"No, I'm sorry Logan." He explained. "You just rest easy now…" He spoke, patting his friend gently upon his bare shoulder.

"What's wrong with me Hank?" The ailing mutant asked anxiously, in a tone broken by mixed emotion.

"Your body has been through a massive ordeal Logan, which it's never been used to before due to the nature of your mutation." He explained – although he himself remained unconvinced. "We mustn't expect too much too soon. It may yet take a little longer for your appetite to come back, and for your stomach to completely repair itself again… but I'll take some more bloods just to be sure we're not missing anything."

Logan grimaced with the thought of this.

"No… not more tests blue." He groaned, but Hank just looked down at him sympathetically… there wasn't much more he could do.

"I'm sorry Logan." He apologised. "I promise I'll make this as quick as I possibly can."

Logan hesitated, but finally nodded reluctantly.

Fearfully he too realised that there were clearly no easy answers… and, wondering just what was really wrong with him, and where things had gone so horribly wrong, he too recognised that, at least for the moment, there was nothing more the kindly blue mutant could do for him.


	27. Chapter 27

**Chapter 26**

**Chapter 26 is finally up! Yay! Please don't forget to ****REVIEW****!**

Meanwhile the Professor and Scott had successfully located and had finally arrived at Magneto's secret base – suitably secluded and mercifully out of the way of any innocent bystander who might have otherwise had the misfortune to get in his old friend's way.

'_How could he have been reduced to this?_' The Professor wondered sadly – responsible for the pre-meditated attack of one of his own kind… one of those he'd sworn to protect?

Professor Xavier just couldn't understand it – it just didn't make any sense.

"You'd better remain behind and take care of the Jet." He explained to a somewhat alarmed Scott as he prepared to depart – the surrounding thick forest and foliage of Magneto's chosen hide out providing the perfect concealment for the giant air-born aft. There was little chance of them being discovered here.

Scott looked at him at this, frowning, confusion written all over his face. Although the Professor couldn't see into the young man's eyes – his gaze permanently concealed behind the electric red visor, setting him apart from even those amongst his own kind, which kept the powerful laser unique to his own type of mutation safely well contained, he could still sense his anxiety, and smiled.

"But don't you want me to come with you?" The young man asked, evidently reluctant to allow his good friend and mentor to confront Magneto alone, especially after the events which had recently transpired, and still remained so fresh in all of their minds. Although the Professor simply shook his head wisely.

"He'll tell me more if I can speak to him alone." He explained softly, not entirely unsympathetic towards the younger man's concern, nor ungrateful for it. But he'd known Magneto a good many years longer than any of the other X-Men – he knew what he's be thinking, what it was that made him tick, and he was confident of the fact that he wouldn't do anything to risk harming his oldest of friends.

"Nothing will happen to me…" He assured him. "Please… just help me into my chair would you?" He asked.

Scott hesitated, unsure at first of what to do, but looking into the older man's wise and kindly features – always so calm, a constant source of inspiration to them all – he finally nodded, manoeuvring the Professor with surprising grace, and an even more surprising ease, into his wheelchair nearby.

Over the years they'd all had plenty of experience, looking out for the Professor almost as much as he'd looked after them. Of course, he hadn't needed their care, Professor Charles Xavier had been more than capable of taking care of himself, but it was the very least each individual member of the X-Men considered they could do for a man who's become so much like a father to all of them – for some the only father they'd ever known – and so much a part of their lives.

"Thank you." Xavier finally sighed to the much younger man once he was comfortably seated, and smiled.

"Are you sure you don't want me to come with you?" Scott persisted, but the Professor simply fixed him with a reassuring gaze.

"Trust me." He sighed. "Wait here."

With this the ramp to the X-Jet slowly lowered, and the Professor cautiously made his way outside, Scott watching anxiously as he left.

Professor Charles Xavier wasn't surprised to see as Magneto stepped out of the shadows and walked forward to greet him as he descended. He'd sensed the other powerful mutant's presence even before they'd even landed the Jet – almost as clearly as if he'd seen him with the evidence of his own eyes.

"I thought you'd find me eventually Charles." He smiled, tapping the side of his head knowingly with a steady forefinger as he approached. "It took you a little longer than I'd have expected of you though."

"We've all been a little preoccupied of late Erik." He explained, using the other mutant's first name rather than his mutant alias – fixing him with a cold hard stare at this, and as Magneto looked down curiously at his old friend, a vague frown plaguing his already weathered features, he suddenly noticed that Xavier's lips weren't moving as he spoke.

"You know I've always thought that your gifts were really singulararily quite remarkable Charles." He smiled. "You're wasted on your precious X-Men."

"Why did you do it Erik?" Charles sighed, and he could see immediately by the subtle change in the other man's face and body language that he knew exactly what he was talking about. There was no need for him to deny the situation – that would simply waste time. Magneto knew from the experience of his long founded friendship with Xavier that there was no point trying to hide anything from Charles.

The smile slowly faded from Magneto's vaguely amused expression as he fixed his old friend with an even harsher stare, eyes hard, fixed almost angrily, and set cold like stone.

"I warned you Charles, what could happen if you meddled in my plans." He explained. "You have your methods of dealing with the humans Charles, and I have mine!"

"And yet you attacked a fellow mutant." Xavier exclaimed, pointing out as he manoeuvred himself a few inches closer towards Magneto. "One of your own kind! One of your own people! One of those you claim to be trying to protect!"

"Wolverine was never in any real danger!" Magneto growled. "Why do you think I chose him in the first place? I had to make you see…"

Xavier simply shook his head gravely, fixing his old friend with a despairing gaze, as he cut the other mutant off mid flow – anger and frustration beginning to boil over within him, overriding his normally level headed disposition.

He didn't even give Magneto the chance to finish.

"He's sick Erik!" The Professor barked back at him sharply and fiercely at this. "Has been probably for a very long time… and you could sense that weakness!"

He hesitated.

"What you did almost killed him!" He explained.

At this Magneto turned his back on Xavier, and, the Professor – presuming this to be a defensive, disarming mechanism on the other man's side – failed to notice as he closed his eyes despairingly once his back was turned.

It had never been Magneto's intention to kill the Wolverine, nor to inflict any potentially permanent or long term suffering upon his adversary. He had indeed meant it when he's called him a worthy opponent, and Lord knew they already had too many people out there wishing their kind real harm as it was… but this was a war, and a war that needed to be fought with tactics and brawn, not with words and diplomacy as his old friend seemed to believe.

"You've had your warning Charles!" He finally declared, with a heavy sigh. "Don't get in my way!" Before walking away.

"Don't walk away from me Erik!" Xavier warned, calling after him as he went, but Magneto had already gone.


	28. Chapter 28

**Chapter 27**

Back on board the Jet Scott assisted the Professor back into his seat. The young man was concerned – the Professor could see that in his expression, but he'd realised that Magneto had posed no real threat to him otherwise he would never have approached him alone.

There had been something different about the other mutant… something distant, quite sad, and rather alone, and Xavier somehow believed that Magneto had never really meant to hurt Logan.

It had been a warning… a warning which had gone horribly wrong.

He was growing desperate, and that concerned the Professor – he realised better than most that a desperate Magneto could prove dangerous for them all, and Logan may very well prove to be the tip of the iceberg.

The Brotherhood were strong, and yet Xavier remained convinced that the X-Men would always be stronger, for as long as the Professor encouraged the strong bond of friendship between the residents at his Institute. Magneto's Brotherhood had brute strength on their side, but would abandon their comrades at the first opportunity if it meant they could secure their own liberty.

"What happened out there Professor?" Scott asked, "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine Scott." The Professor reassured him, nodding slightly, responding in a grave, somewhat strained tone of voice. "But it was a waste of time."

"What do you mean?" Scott frowned, strapping himself into the pilots seat, before performing several of the basic pre flight tests.

"I don't however believe that Magneto's attack upon Logan was in any way malicious." The Professor continued. "I could sense something… there was a distinct feeling of regret about him. It was intended as a warning, albeit one which went horribly wrong."

"Yeah, well," Scott scoffed, "He seems to have an unfortunate knack of doing that… although I wouldn't personally give him the privilege of the benefit of nay doubt Professor."

"Scott…" Professor Xavier sighed. "You have to understand, I've known Erik for longer than you, he's not really a bad man, he's just confused, and afraid... try to understand…"

With this a distracted frown suddenly descended upon Xavier's expression. He suddenly paused, deep in thought, forehead furrowed, and eyes tight shut as he struggled to make sense of the image he was receiving. He screwed his eyes even tighter shut – forced to concentrate hard, and raised his palms to rest loosely against either side of his head.

"Where to now?" Scott asked, momentarily oblivious to his mentor's sudden distracted state. "Shall we go after him… Professor?"

"Huh? Umm… no Scott." He faltered, with a slight frown, and shaking of his head. "There's no point." He explained. "He'll be long gone…"

With this he froze, another serious frown etched into his expression. There was silence between them for several seconds, as the Professor acted as a receptor for the images of events which Scott was not yet privy to, but which he could tell by the concerned expression on Xavier's face was a topic of great seriousness.

Finally Xavier sighed gravely.

"We need to get home Scott." He explained. "We've done all we can here. Set course for the mansion. Magneto may not be willing nor see fit to help us resolve this mess he's caused, at the very least I thought we'd be owed a proper explanation for his actions. However it may be that we may well yet be able to prevent the situation getting any worse before it gets better."

However what the Professor hadn't told Scott was that he could sense that there was something still very wrong with Logan… something which the other mutant was still keeping from them, and with him still holding back from them all the true extent of the seriousness of his condition, and continuing symptoms, he had his doubts on that matter.


	29. Chapter 29

**Chapter 28**

The night was already beginning to draw in by the time Professor Xavier and Scott had set course for the mansion and started on their long journey home. It was a beautiful evening, with clear dark skies, like soft charcoal, and the stars shimmered like scattered sequins set against silver clouds, and an inky black sky. Their journey home so far had been relatively uneventful, and easy going… little could they know that just around the corner things were all about to change.

As they passed over an area of thick forest and dense woodland – the tops of the trees looking like blackened heads of flowering broccoli in the dark – an alarm suddenly went off in the cockpit of the Jet, correlating with the eruption of the small but bright emergency light which flashed red to alert them to the fact that something was wrong with their craft.

"What's going on?" The Professor asked a seriously alarmed Scott as he leapt to the controls in a bid to stabilise the out of control aircraft.

The young man sighed as he observed the negative readings upon some of the flashing gages on the control panel… it became evident fairly quickly what the problem was.

"The engine's overheating." He explained, in some alarm. "Something's caused the internal mechanism to short circuit and burn out… we're not burning fuel efficiently, converting it into energy, instead the tank is acting like a giant furnace, boiling it."

"Can you fix it?" The Professor asked.

Scott frowned, considering the question for a moment, before responding, slowly, nodding his head.

"I could probably do something to patch her up enough just to get us home." He explained with a frustrated sigh. "But she's going to need some extensive repair work doing to get her back up and running again, and it's far too dark outside for me to do anything now… we're going to have to make an emergency landing!"

The Professor nodded calmly at this, seemingly un-phased as he took in this fresh and normally rather alarming information – but somehow, as he always had done, he managed to maintain his usually composed frame of mind.

"Then we'll have to land here, and make camp for the night." He suggested calmly. "I'm going to try and get a message to Jean back home, to let them know what's going on." And as Scott fought to regain control over the Jet, the Professor slowly appeared to descend into a trace like state.

His eyelids closed gently shut, hands grasping tightly, almost spasmodically against the armrests of his seat as he attempted to focus his mind, and maintain enough mental composure to successfully telekinetically communicate his message.

'_Jean, we've encountered problems with the Jet… having to make an emergency landing… won't be able to make it back to the Mansion tonight… please don't worry, we're perfectly safe, and we'll see you tomorrow._'

Meanwhile Jean, who'd been fast asleep in bed at the time, under Hank's strict instructions to get some more rest whilst he continued to tend to Logan, sat bolt upright in bed, breathing heavily – cold sweat trickling down the back of her neck. Her head was swimming, full of confused and disjointed thoughts which threatened to overwhelm her… she'd thought she'd heard the Professor's voice speaking to her from inside of her own head, if only for a moment… or had it all been a dream? She frowned, pinching the bridge of her nose with concern.

Taking a few deep breaths to calm her severely frayed nerves, she gently lowered herself back down towards the mattress and the soft pillow which cradled her aching head. Closing her eyes she struggled to banish the series of disjointed images which played upon her mind… of the X-Jet… an alarm going off inside the cockpit… of Scott, and the Professor… and of the Jet going down…

As she closed her eyes, and tried to convince herself that the images she'd seen were just the product of her severe exhaustion, and a seriously pressed state of mind however, she had trouble convincing herself that what she'd seen in her minds eye could really have been the product of an overactive imagination, and couldn't shake the nagging feeling that something was very very wrong.


	30. Chapter 30

**Chapter 29**

The following day Jean and Hank finally escorted Logan from the infirmary back to his own room. Although still weak there were some encouraging signs both in his state of mind and as indicated by the most recent panel of test results which the kindly blue mutant had had run, to suggest that he was at least appearing a little stronger, and although the doctor was still concerned he'd considered that Logan would probably feel more comfortable being allowed to return to his own room now that there wasn't much more they could do for him down in the infirmary. His abdominal scars were now healing nicely, and overnight, although they were still functioning at a significantly reduced rate, his healing abilities had at least seemed to have started to return.

Jean helped steady Logan as she assisted him in lying down on the bed, resting his head against the large feather pillows and extra cushions she'd seen to had been brought up to his room preceding his return, as he allowed himself to sink gratefully into their soft embrace.

Lightly Hank palpated the area of Logan's swollen abdomen, checking for any sign of tenderness in his patient, or rigid tissue which might show up any sign or indication of a further internal bleed, but to his relief found everything to be of satisfaction. Logan grimaced and groaned however as the doctor pressed down gently onto the area of scar tissue, still bound neatly with tiny sutures and encrusted with dry blood and flakes of skin.

"Does that hurt Logan?" Hank asked, concerned.

"A little." He confessed dryly.

The doctor nodded.

Hank however had noticed that as they'd assisted Logan up from the infirmary – the stubborn and unreasoning mutant having insisted on taking the staircase up to the third floor of the mansion instead of the far more practical and sensible lift in light of his current condition – their patient had exhibited some signs of distress, reaching breathlessly for his chest and throat, as he'd experienced some difficulty in breathing. Now that Logan was lying down comfortably he removed a stethoscope from his pocket, and, placing the cold dick gently to Logan's chest listened intently to his respirations.

As he did so Jean heard a commotion outside and went to look out of the bedroom window to investigate. She smiled as she observed the Jet coming into land, watching as it slowly descended upon the mansion, easing itself into the landing base and watching as it slowly disappeared as the roof mechanism eased itself closed above it, before turning back to Hank.

"They're back." She sighed in relief.

Meanwhile Hank frowned – he wasn't entirely sure that he liked the sound of Logan's respirations. The mutant's heart rate was slightly irregular and his lungs were still full of fluid – he could hear them crackle and wheeze as Logan breathed steadily in and out.

Suddenly Jean's eyes screwed tight shut with intense concentration, her fingers reached for her temples and she slumped down in the chair beside Logan's bed.

"Jean?" Hank frowned, speaking gently and in an inquiring tone as he removed the base of the stethoscope from Logan's chest and threw it around his neck, gently covering Logan's cool body with the duvet up to his torso.

Jean was silent for just a few seconds before her posture appeared to relax once again, and she opened her eyes and smiled.

"The Professor wants to see us in his office as soon as we can make it." She explained. "He says he's got something to tell us."

Hank nodded.

"You go." He smiled with this, indicating to the young red head that she should go and join them. "I'll catch you up as soon as I can. I'm just going to make sure that Logan's comfortable first."

With this she looked uncertainly from Hank to Logan and back again, a pained expression and concern written all over her face, and the kindly mutant could clearly see that she was still hesitant about leaving Logan's side for too long, still concerned that something might happen to him in her absence – however with one determined look she relented, nodding reluctantly.

"Are you sure?" She asked, and Hank smiled at her reassuringly.

"We'll be fine." He replied. "There's not much more we can do here anyway. I'm just going to fit Logan's new IV," – they'd had to take the old one out to avoid the risk of Logan tearing his tubes out whilst they transported him upstairs – "and then I'll be down. You go and let them know I'm on my way."

Jean smiled and nodded.

"Just let me know if there's any change." She replied, bending down to peck Logan delicately on the lips and to brush the limp, sticky locks of dark brown hair away from his clammy forehead affectionately. As she did so Logan reached up to grasp her warm palm, and caress her thin fingers delicately.

"I'm fine." He assured her, voice a weak whisper, but tone strong enough to give them hope that he may at last be on the steady road to recovery.

"I know." She smiled.

"Don't worry." Hank reassured her kindly however. "I'll let you know, although I think you'd probably know Jean long before I ever did if there was even the slightest change in Logan's condition. You go down and see what Charles has to say." He smiled.

With this Jean sighed, with a slight nod of her head in understanding, and placing one more affectionate and slightly more passionate kiss upon Logan's dry and still slightly cracked lips – which he did his best to reciprocate – before turning to leave; her polished healed shoed clicking lightly against the wood tiled flooring as she went, before gently clicking the door closed behind her.

When she'd gone Hank turned back to Logan.

"Are you really alright?" He asked, concerned, eyebrows raised and still unconvinced by Logan's charade, and his futile attempts to create the impression of some sort of mock normality – but Logan nodded.

The doctor hadn't liked what he'd heard whilst listening to Logan's chest – both the crackling of fluid on the lungs and the subsequent wheezing could be put down to some sort of infection (which Logan most certainly had), and he was already on daily doses of antibiotics to combat that, but the irregular and far off sounding heartbeat was more alarming, and not so easy to explain away.

Even so he hadn't wanted to worry Jean unnecessarily – not until he knew for sure what it was they were dealing with. She was a sensible woman, and Hank realised that she knew that moving Logan upstairs didn't change anything about his condition – he was still very ill.

He was however sure that Logan wasn't in any immediate danger, and so remained convinced that the best thing for their patient now was rest.

He was pale, and evidently still exhausted, but was at least still conscious and coherent, and this at least had the effect of reassuring the doctor's concerns slightly. Hot and bitter bile began to rise in the base of Logan's throat however, and he swallowed hard – not wanting to enlighten Hank to his distress.

"I'm fine… really Blue." He choked softly, voice an even hoarser, weaker whisper. "You'd better go and see what the Professor wants, he's probably got a lot to tell you."

Hank smiled, crossing to the opposite side of the room before returning – something clasped tightly in the palm of his hand – as he sat down on the edge of the bed beside Logan, patting the other mutant's shoulder lightly.

"All in due time Logan." He smiled. "My job I to take care of you first, and Charles will wait. He will understand… I need to take some more blood, and insert a new IV line so we can start getting some fluids into you again…"

With this he lightly uncapped his clenched palm to reveal a sterile uncapped syringe, and Logan grimaced.

"No Blue… please… no more needles." He groaned pleadingly.

"I'm sorry Logan." Hank explained apologetically, as he carefully unsealed and then uncapped the hypodermic. "I know that you're not going to like this, but I promise to make this as quick as I can."

He smiled sympathetically.

Logan looked at his, stomach now churning painfully, as his heart palpitated uncomfortably inside his chest, palms sweating, and he had to swallow hard for a second time as he yet again began to feel the bile rising slowly from the pit of his stomach.

Reluctantly he rolled over onto his side and nodded – he knew by now that to refuse treatment would only prolong the inevitable, and no matter how unpleasant, it was all for his own good – better to get it over and done with.

Hank didn't say anything, but Logan didn't see as the doctor smiled – a mixture of both apology and sympathy upon his face – as the doctor gently rolled down the sheets, exposing the other mutant's arm, and Logan grimaced as he felt the sharp scratch of the needle as it pierced his skin.


	31. Chapter 31

**Chapter 30**

Once Logan appeared finally to have settled, and Hank had collected all the blood he needed and fitted a new IV line, he'd left his patient to rest in some peace and quiet. The wound which had resulted from the IV puncture in the raw flesh of the back of his hand had seeped blood quite profusely, and Hank had suggested that a double layer of gauze and bandages, tightly swathed around the injured limb, may help to stem the flow of bleeding… although he still couldn't shake his concern… realising all too well that this wasn't normal.

Now left to his own devices however, and hand bound in several slightly bloodied layers of bandages, his churning stomach continued to do somersaults as he lay in bed and tossed and turned restlessly in a bid to get comfortable – all to no avail.

The painkiller which Hank had administered him with before he'd left to rejoin Jean and the Professor, and the rest of the small group who were by now no doubt beginning to gather in Xavier's office a few floors below, had done little to settle his stomach, and as the hot and bitter bile continued to rise slowly from the pit of his stomach he suddenly flung the blankets away from his cold and shivering torso, somehow managing to negotiate the tangled web of tubes and wires, and the IV stand, and made a mad dash in the direction of the bathroom, and vomiting violently several times into the toilet bowl – to his own horror and alarm bringing up small specks of dark brown blood in the process – before slowly and steadily making his way back to the relative warmth and comfort of the bedroom (head spinning as he still staggered upon weak and shaky legs), before collapsing back down upon his soft and welcoming mattress, exhausted, and drifting off into a troubled and restless sleep.


	32. Chapter 32

**Chapter 31**

When Hank entered Xavier's office – oblivious to Logan's turmoil currently further unfolding only a few floors above them – a few minutes later, he found the small group waiting for him. The Professor, clearly weary, and yet obviously with something more pressing preying upon his mind, was sitting in his usual position behind his desk – Scott standing beside him, and Jean and Storm sitting perched on the threadbare sofa in the corner of the room.

They all looked at him, somehow quite expectantly as he entered, and the Professor smiled in a friendly greeting – evidently relieved to be home, and happy to see his old friend again – as the doctor took up his position on the one remaining seat of the three seater sofa, beside the two young women.

Both men looked exhausted, and as though they hadn't slept a wink all evening – the dark circles of deep grey shading beneath Scott's eyes were evident beneath the shades of his visor even from this distance, but, despite his evident weariness, the Professor's eyes glistened bright and wary, eager to reveal everything which he and Scott had discovered from Magneto the day before.

"Good morning Hank." Xavier spoke pleasantly, smiling as his old friend sat down.

"Glad to see you both home safely again Charles." The deep blue mutant smiled.

The Professor nodded.

"But please tell me Hank…" He continued expectantly, and in an even tone, resting his elbows on the table and leaning forward seriously, to look the other mutant directly in the eyes. "How is Logan doing this morning?"

The young doctor sighed gravely. "I believe he is doing a little better Charles." He explained, wary of Jean sitting not very far away from him. "He seems a little stronger, but there's still something not quite right that I can't quite put my finger on, so I've just taken some more blood to run a few more tests, and we've got him back on IV fluids, but he's definitely contracted an infection of some sort, and I'm still a little concerned."

The pair exchanged a knowing glance with this, as their eyes met seriously across the room for a moment, and the Professor nodded in understanding.

"I trust your meeting with Magneto went well?" Hand enquired.

The Professor sighed with this, cupping his fingers together thought fully, and resting his chin upon the point at which they clasped.

"Well, that was what I wanted to talk to you about." He remarked seriously. "I asked you all here so that I could keep you all fully informed of the situation." The Professor paused with this, fixing them all with a serious gaze, before continuing. "I have indeed spoken with Magneto," He explained, "and it seems to me that his current state of mind is rather an unstable one… he's scared, and that makes him dangerous, but it is my belief that he did not intend to cause Logan any permanent harm… it was intended as a warning, albeit a warning which went horribly wrong."

Scott suddenly scoffed however, evidently unconvinced by the Professor's words, and his opinion on the matter all too clear to everybody present.

The disagreeable frown which furrowed the light creases of his young brow went largely unnoticed however as it was now Storm's turn to speak – he young face and soft expression still evidently marked by a look of deep concern, as she fixed the Professor with an enquiring gaze.

"But what happened to you last night Professor?" She asked. "Why didn't you come home?"

"Yes Professor…" Jean cut in with a slight frown with this. "You gave me an awful fright with that message you sent me."

The Professor smiled apologetically, looking to Scott before continuing to respond.

"I am sorry you two," He explained, "and I never meant to give you a scare Jean." He apologised. "I'm afraid we were delayed… there was a… erm… technical difficulty with the Jet."

With this the whole room suddenly went silent as they waited to find out what had really befallen Scott and the Professor the previous evening, and Storm let out an audible exhale of breath in her alarm.

"But what happened Professor?" She asked, with a frown.

"The engine burnt out." It was Scott's turn to explain however; he'd been standing patiently at the Professor's side, fidgeting uncomfortably from one foot to the other and doing his best to bite his tongue, for the past few minutes now, and could keep his opinion to himself no longer, as his words escaped him in a hoarse sort of growl. "The mechanisms began to overheat, we couldn't burn fuel efficiently… and you still say Magneto isn't dangerous Professor?" He added, turning to face and address his friend and mentor with this. "It had his name written all over it."

"Scott," The Professor sighed, closing his eyes despairingly. "I never said that Erik wasn't dangerous… on the contrary I don't believe he's ever been any more so than he is now. But whether or not it was Magneto who was responsible for the damage done to the Jet last night, we have no proof, and we have more pressing issues to worry about at the moment."

"But we have to do something…" Scott growled, and the Professor fixed him with a determined and warning stare.

"I am not prepared to risk anymore lives." Xavier exclaimed, and signalling the end of that particular line of conversation, before he appeared to relent a little. "Logan must be our main priority at least for the time being. Hank," He remarked gravely, before turning to address the doctor who raised his eyebrows in response, expectantly – listening intently to what the Professor had to say. "I don't think your concerns for Logan are completely unfounded. I know what you mean when you say that there's something not quite right that you can't quite put your finger on. There's something wrong, something he's not telling us, and we're all going to have to keep a very close eye on him over the next few days and weeks."


	33. Chapter 33

**Chapter 32**

Three weeks then went by relatively uneventfully, and Logan's condition appeared to steadily improve. His wounds had healed quite nicely, and only a single long, thin, faded scar along the length of his abdomen remained – although the Professor remained unconvinced by the other man's attempts to appear as though life may have finally been returning to normal, and Hank had made the decision to stay on at the mansion a while longer, just until Logan was feeling a little stronger – only returning to the Government offices during the day for important meetings, and returning of an evening to check on his patient.

Although there were a few who were yet to be completely convinced by Logan's apparent rapid and miraculous recovery, they were all of them relieved when he started eating again, and his stomach appeared to have settled for long enough for him to keep down small amounts of food.

He'd been given strict instructions by the doctor that he wasn't to engage in any activity which might be considered evenly remotely strenuous – which ruled out anymore Danger Room sessions, at lest for the time being – but, as his strength had continued to increase and improve quite dramatically over the preceding few days, and, finally weeks, he'd finally been taken off the IV, and allowed to leave his room for a few hours a day, to participate in some of the more social of the school's activities.

For two weeks he continued to eat his meals in the dining room with the other staff members, and watched television in the communal living area – when he wasn't playing a game of foosball, which Rogue had been challenging him to quite frequently to of late. Despite his increased appetite and apparent eagerness to engage in social activities however there was still something not quite right about his demeanour, and the general state of his apparently much improved condition, which nobody could quite put their finger on.

Despite the fact that Logan was now eating more food than he had done in weeks however, he was still failing to regain much of the weight which he'd lost shortly after surgery, only consuming tiny mouthfuls each mealtime before, frequently, excusing himself from the dining table in order to return to his room, or to pay a visit to one of the mansion's many communal bathrooms, only to return a few minutes later, pale and sweating profusely. Whatever the original infection which had originally gripped him however had appeared to have cleared – hid white blood cell count was now almost back to it's normal rate, and his lung were sounding significantly clearer, despite the fact that his heart rate was still irregular, and to Hank's own bewilderment would often sound muffled, and the rhythm far away upon examinations. He'd stop suddenly in the middle of the corridor, or whilst making his way up and down the stairs – holding himself stiff and awkwardly, as though he was in pain – and would appear to suffer some difficulty in breathing… but in the absence of any other significant symptoms (at least as far as Logan was reporting) there was little the kindly and concerned doctor could do to help aid his condition, and Hank was at a complete loss as to how to explain away any of these alarming observations, and to help his friend.

Little did any of them realise however that in just a few days Logan's pretence would come to a head in a most unexpected and dramatic way… his body was filing, and over the next few days he'd develop a new, and far more alarming set of symptoms.

Only a couple of days later Logan's shortness of breath would intensify, and he would awake with a low grade fever. He would manage to breakfast, with some difficulty, as usual, but the sharp stabbing pain in his chest, migrating behind his left breastbone, would make breathing an almost unbearable affair, and nobody this time would be able to turn a blind eye to the fact that there was obviously something terribly wrong.


	34. Chapter 34

**Chapter 33**

Three weeks later Logan awoke with a sharp stabbing pain in the left side of his chest – alarming in it's intensity, it would not normally have overly concerned him. He'd been getting a similar pain – markedly stronger and stronger each day – during the weeks marking his recovery from Magneto's attack and subsequent surgery, but hadn't thought to trouble Hank, nor indeed Jean for that matter, with what he'd thought were probably just normal healing pains. He rose slower than usual, although to his relief the pain appeared to subside somewhat once he say up, showered, changed, and made his way uneasily down to breakfast.

This had been coming on for days now – the pain making movement, and even breathing difficult as day by day it had become just a little worse – nauseating, and progressive.

Even so he'd managed to make a show of eating a hearty breakfast; piling sausage, fried eggs and bacon onto his plate, followed by tomatoes, mushrooms, fried bread with butter, and baked beans onto his plate without arousing too much suspicion – his appetite, to all outside eyes, now fully restored.

After consuming only half of his ample plateful of breakfast he sat with Rogue and Bobby in the communal living area for a while, but hadn't thought much of what they'd been watching – apparently some new aged, mid-morning, drama aged a teenagers around their approximate year group, which had failed to 'wow' – them too apparently as they disappeared shortly after settling down, presumably heading off for their first class of the day, and leaving him to his own devices… it was at times like this he really felt his age.

By early that afternoon however he'd really began to feel strange, the pain had become so intense that he was barely able to breathe neither in nor out. He spiked a slight fever – skin warm and clammy to the touch, but inwardly his blood was like ice water coursing through his veins, and a wave of dizziness overwhelmed him.

He barely managed to make it upstairs without attracting anyone's attention, and when he finally did was alarmed that as he lay down upon his bed he was struck with pain, like an intense crushing blow to his chest.

He immediately let out a surprised yelp, an action which prompted another wave of searing hot pain to course though his throbbing chest and left side, and with each new breath it felt as though a fresh weight was pressing down on top of his diaphragm and ribcage – slowly suffocating him.

Meanwhile Hank, who was outside instructing some of the younger pupils on their agility lesson, looked up at that moment to see Logan looking down upon the mansion grounds, out of his bedroom window. Pale and sweating – he could tell that there was evidently something seriously wrong, his hand clutched at his chest, fingers clawing at blanched skin and the woven fabric of his sweater – evidently in some significant pain. There was a clear sheath of perspiration running down his face, even from this distance, but as he suddenly noticed Hank looking up at him, he immediately withdrew.

Without warning the doctor suddenly took off across the grounds, hurtling forwards in the direction of the mansion – something was seriously wrong, he could sense it, and time was not on their side.

As he made it through the front doors he called urgently out to Jean, whom he noticed was in conversation with another pupil in the hallway, to follow him, and the two raced up the winding staircase together – Hank explaining on the way.

By the time they reached the top of the stairs they were both pretty out of breath, but made their way straight in the direction of Logan's room.

Hank silently cursed himself for not having taken heed of Logan's evidently deteriorating condition sooner, he'd noticed him, evidently weak and feeling the effects of some sort of sickness for days. He's presumed however that if there was something seriously wrong then Logan would have told him, especially after everything he'd already been through – but maybe, even if the doctor had have approached him regarding the matter, in order to voice his concerns with his patient, then the other mutant wouldn't have told him very much anyway.

Anyway, nothing could be done about the past – in hindsight there were a lot of things which Hank would have done differently, or not done at all – but it was the present, the here and now that counted.

As they approached Logan's room the bedroom door was already slightly ajar – as though he'd been expecting the, - and as they gently slid it open they could see Logan, sitting on the edge of the bed- grey, sweating, and shivering, although whether though cold or fear wasn't immediately obvious.

Jean was at his side in an instant.

"I'm… sorry… Jean…" He whispered, and immediately grimaced in pain as he spoke, evidently he was experiencing some difficulty in breathing.

Jean shook her head – hair flying softly in wisps across her face – with this, indicating that he did not need to apologise, as Logan turned to face Hank – the kindly blue mutant now in complete doctor mode as he observed his patient's distress.

"Hank… it's my… chest…" He explained, in sharp, raged gasps, which evidently caused a further wave of excruciating pain to ravage his body. "I… can't… breathe…"

"Jean…" The doctor immediately instructed with this, knowing that they had to act quickly, and this time not even attempting to reassure the ailing mutant in front of him, in his urgency, "go down to the infirmary and fetch me up a stethoscope, and an oxygen cylinder and mask, quickly."

She nodded, clambering to her feet without hesitation – she didn't even feel the need to ask the other mutant the need for such equipment, or the motives behind his sudden urgency. As a trained doctor herself she understood the seriousness of the situation.

The two shared a glance before she left the room however – her scared and pleading eyes looking back at him, but this time Hank could make no promises to her that Logan would be alright.

Once she'd left the room, closing the door behind her so that the scene unfolding inside the bedroom would not attract the unwanted attentions of any of the other students and alarm them, Hank gently took his patient's cold and clammy wrist in his hand using two fingers expertly to detect the rhythmic flutter of his pulse, and matching it to the timing of his watch.

"I'm.. sorry… Blue…" Logan groaned, grimacing again as he spoke, but all Hank could do was smile down at him reassuringly.

"There's no need to apologise Logan." He reassured him, kindly – all the time frowning inwardly to himself, and the concern rising in the pit of his stomach – Logan's pulse was alarmingly irregular. "Don't talk now. Just relax, everything's going to be alright."

It was as much to reassure himself of that fact than anybody else… he didn't want to have to watch his good friend die in front of him.

'Yes… everything was going to be alright…'


	35. Chapter 35

**Chapter 34**

**Just a quick message to say thank you to all of my lovely readers who have reviewed and stuck with this story for so long! Make the most of it because, after so long, there are only three more chapters left now! Hopefully this chapter is the one worth waiting for as I am finally revealing to you all what is going on with Logan! So please enjoy, and continue to review!**

Almost two hours later Logan found himself lying yet again upon a bed which had been made up for him in the infirmary – this time hooked up to a heart monitor, although the pain eradiating through his breast bone had eased substantially in the last half an hour since Hank had been able to administer a pain killer – and breathing with the aid of an oxygen mask.

Jean had sat at his bedside for over an hour, her hand gently clasped around his cold and clammy palm, and stroking his feverish cheek gently with the back of her delicate finger, as Hank's attentions had been thoroughly diverted elsewhere, as he busied himself at Logan's bedside, performing a comprehensive battery of tests.

The latest panel of blood results had shown that Logan's white blood cell count was significantly raised, and before the kindly blue mutant had been able to administer the powerful painkiller into a new IV line in the back of Logan's hand he'd obviously been in a great deal of pain and discomfort.

It became increasingly clear to all that their friend had obviously contracted a very severe infection, and as Hank finally completed an extensive series of tests on his patient, he began to wonder how Logan had possibly been able to conceal his symptoms from them for so long.

The ECG, ultrasound, x-rays, and CAT scan of Logan's heart – which Hank had seen fit to perform, had all pointed to the same surprising conclusion, whilst all of Jean's efforts had been focused on soothing and consoling her long suffering lover, as she stroked the sticky stray locks of dark brown hair away from his sweaty forehead.

Meanwhile Logan had tossed and turned upon the bed before them, cocooning himself in a sheath of white linen as the sheets became rapidly entangled around his body as he writhed in pain, shivering with the fire of his fever as Jean had done her best to calm the burning furnace of his warm flesh.

Hank sighed as he reviewed the results of Logan's ultrasound and CAT scan before him – each showing the same striking abnormality. As they'd both assisted Logan back down into the infirmary, he'd complained of a sudden shortness of breath and his pain had mysteriously appeared to intensify as soon as his head had hit the pillow – now it became clear to them why.

Hank had been forced to make the decision to put Logan back on oxygen, as each fresh breath he drew came as a sharp, ragged rasp of air – although as the pain killers had finally began to show some sign of beginning to take effect, to everyone's relief Logan had once again appeared a little calmer and far more settled. His fever had also subsided a little throughout the following hour as Hank administered a fast acting anti-biotic to help combat the mysterious infection which seemed to have taken such a hold on Logan's normally unfailing immune system, and he'd finally been able to rest much more comfortably.

Hank sighed gravely however as he now held the spliced images of the CAT scan up to the light, looking to Jean for a second opinion as he closely examined the area surrounding his patient's heart and respiratory system. Jean stepped up from her position at Logan's bedside as the kindly blue mutant ushered her over, and the two spent a moment in quiet observation, exchanging hushed dialogue at brief intervals, an then finally a heated conversation ensued between the two of them as Logan looked on in a state of anxious oblivion. Finally Jean turned to him, tears glistening in her dark brown eyes, as she smiled affectionately, conveying an attempted note of reassurance in her expression, before hurrying from the room.

"That bad hey?" Logan sighed dispiritedly, turning to the kindly blue mutant as he watched her go.

"Well Logan," Hank smiled warmly as he turned to address his friend. "The good news is that I think I know what's wrong with you." He explained. "The bad news is that you're going to require another operation to fix it."

"What do you mean?" Logan asked, and anxious frown puckering his already furrowed brow.

"You've developed a pericarditis." He explained. "Which had resulted in a pericardial effusion."

As he spoke he pulled up a chair beside his friend's bedside, and sat down.

"In English please Blue…" Logan sighed. "I'm having a hard enough time getting my head around all this as it is."

With this his breath caught in his chest as he spoke, irritating his lungs even further and making him cough weakly as Hank quickly but gently replaced the oxygen mask over his mouth and nose, preceding to rub the back of his neck thoughtfully with a warm palm, before continuing.

"You've developed an infection around your heart, which had resulted in a build up of infected fluid around your pericardias." He explained. "This build up of fluid is putting pressure on the wall of muscle around your heart, which is what's causing your pain."

"Then why didn't it show up before?" Logan asked.

"Well it would seen that the nature of your mutation managed to mask many of the more common symptoms." Hank explained. "You must have had it coming for quite some time for it to be this far advanced, although I can't be sure until I've had a chance to take a closer look at you, but I think the good news is that in your case it doesn't appear to be too serious."

Logan grimaced with the thought of what he'd already been through over the previous few weeks and what he was still yet to endure on his long road to recovery, but he smiled solemnly and nodded in understanding, resigning himself to the doctor's prognosis.

"So where do we go from here?" He asked.

"Well," Hank sighed thoughtfully. "I'm going to keep you on mild painkiller for now, and prescribe you some stronger IV anti-biotics to combat the infection… and with an effusion this advanced I'm afraid you are going to need a chest tube fitted to drain some of the infected fluid away from the area around your heart, which will require a general anaesthetic I'm afraid…" He sighed apologetically. "But after that you should be fine."

"It's alright Blue," Logan smiled, looking gratefully up into the face of his friend. "I understand… this is the only way… besides," He laughed weakly, a light, breathy sound which came out more as a small hiss of breath than a gesture of light heartedness, "a couple of hours ago I thought I was going to die… and, like you said last time, I'll be asleep."

With this the two shared a look of mutual understanding, Hank's eyes glistening warmly like two silver sequins set against the unusual blue complexion of his flesh.

"The only question now," Logan sighed as he looked to Hank with raised and quizzical eyebrows, "is when?"

"Well," The doctor faltered as he stood up from his seat and made his way to the foot of Logan's bed to review his chart. "I'd like to leave anything too invasive for a couple of days at least, to give you a chance to rest. In the meantime I'll start you on IV fluids and anti-biotics, and schedule you in for surgery in two days time."

"And Jean?" Logan asked, looking longingly in the direction of the infirmary door, through which she'd hastily vacated the room not much earlier.

Hank followed his gaze, "Oh don't you worry about Jean Logan." He smiled reassuringly. "She'd a strong woman. Of course she's worrying about you, which is only natural for us to worry about the ones we love and care about. She wears her heart on her sleeve, always has done, ever since she was a little girl and I first met her, but I'm sure, like you, she'll be alright in the end."


	36. Chapter 36

**Chapter 35**

_**OK guys, chapter 35 is up! Sorry, I actually lied in my last post... well I didn't lie but made a mistake, there are now three more chapters to follow this chapter, before the story is finally finished... but they are as yet unwritten, so please bare with me! Enjoy, and as usual please REVIEW! Thanks!**_

"Heart surgery?" Charles Xavier exclaimed gravely, sitting at his desk, hands clasped thoughtfully together out in front of him, a short while later.

Hank sat in an old armchair, it's upholstery worn threadbare through the years and covered in patches of mix matched material, as he explained solemnly to his old friend, and Scott, who sat perched precariously on the edge of the Professor's desk, the outcome of Logan's latest batch of tests, and his conclusion based on their findings, regarding his condition.

"Are things really that serious?" The Professor asked.

Scott held hid head in his hands. "We had no idea… if only we'd realised he was so sick!" He faltered, one harsh with self loathing. He'd initially attended the small meeting not only as a friend of Logan's but as a representative for the rest of the staff, and the other X-Men, including Jean and Storm, who found themselves unable to draw themselves away from the Institute's students for too long, who were all understandably still quite shaken by the events of the last couple of weeks.

"I know that me and Logan haven't exactly seen eye to eye over the past couple of years," Scott continued solemnly, "we haven't exactly been the best of friend's either, but for something like this to happen…" He faltered, and with this he looked instinctively from the Professor to Hank for support, his expression representative of a soul torn by conflict; guilt, self blame and regret all registered upon his warn face. Failing to find any false comfort or source of reassurance in their eyes however he settled for gazing out of the window, gravely out at the grounds below, with a heavy sigh.

"You have nothing to reproach yourself with Scott." Hank explained comfortingly at this, getting to his feet and making his way over to sit in the seat adjacent to Xavier's old mahogany desk, and bringing himself in closer proximity to the rest of the small group. "Nobody could have known how ill he really was." He continued. "The nature of his mutation masked many of the major and more common symptoms, and he concealed the rest very well. I don't think even Logan himself realised just how ill he was. But it's really not as bad as it could be, and believe me it could have been a lot worse."

"Well, what are the risks?" Xavier asked.

The fuzzy blue mutant faltered. "Well, as you know, any form of surgery carries with it certain risks, and with heart surgery the risks of complications are usually doubled." He explained. "But I think he's now strong enough to withstand this operation with only minimal risk to himself. I wouldn't have advised it otherwise."

Professor Xavier nodded.

"I know that Hank." He smiled. "We're all exceptionally grateful to you for everything you've done for Logan."

Hank shook his head at this however, holding up one large palm to stifle his friend's words. "Don't mention it Charles. You know I'm always here for friends in need. I'm just glad that I could help."

"How's he holding up?" Xavier asked, leaning forward, both elbows resting against the desk thoughtfully, and fingers clasped together loosely in front of him.

Hank smiled. "He's scared, understandably so." He explained. "But he's putting a brave face on things. The antibiotics I've given him have already started to take effect, so he's beginning to feel a little better, and he's not in pain anymore, which can only be a good sign. I think there's every indication that once we get the chest tube in and drain some of the fluid away from his chest, which is causing such a restriction to his breathing at the moment, he'll begin to feel a lot better."

There was a long pause, filled by silence, and the only sound coming from the over zealous student, playing somewhere in the distance, outside the window in the grounds below, as all three of the small gathering did their best to get their heads around the situation.

Both Scott and Xavier found themselves needing a brief moment to absorb what Hank had just told them, and to allow this new and quite startling revelation to sink in. Hank meanwhile found his mind subconsciously wondering and drifting towards thoughts of the procedure ahead, however there was something more pressing preying upon his mind, creeping in through the back door, and filtering its way into his conscious, plaguing each one of there carefully calculated and mapped out thoughts with worry.

This current state of events seemed to be affecting Jean more than anyone, and Logan was clearly beginning to worry about the way things seemed to be affecting her, which couldn't be helping his state of health.

Suddenly Scott cut in however, disrupting his chain of thought.

"So where do we go from here?" He asked, concerned.

Hank faltered – brain slightly muddled by it's brief lack of spatial awareness for a moment – before finding his train of thought again.

"Well," He sighed. "As I explained to Logan earlier I don't want to do anything too invasive for the next couple of days, his body still needs a chance to recover, and rest before I'd recommend any form of surgical procedure, but I'll review his condition in the next couple of days." Before turning back to the Professor. "By the way, do you know where Jean is?" He asked. "I'd like a word with her."

"I believe she was planning on overseeing an advanced danger room session with some of the upper school this evening." Charles explained to his old friend, looking at his watch at this to confirm the time as he did so. "But it's almost dinner time, so she should be in the dining room by now."

Hank got to his feet. "Thank you Charles." He smiled his thanks, nodding pleasantly in Scott's direction, acknowledging his presence with a slight frown of concern upon his face as he dismissed himself quietly from the small group.

The young man looked tired and somewhat dejected – considering there'd previously been no love lost between the two of them Logan's illness appeared to have shaken Scott pretty badly.

Hank just presumed that it had made them all reflect upon their own mortality more closely over the past couple of weeks – he'd seen it before in many of his own kind, some mutants seemed to believe that having the special powers they possessed made them immortal, untouchable, when really all it did was make them different.

Logan was the closest he'd ever come to seeing anyone for whom it genuinely seemed that living an immortal life wasn't completely outside of the realms of possibility, and now this recent incident had resulted in even him having to re-evaluate his own preconceptions.

Logan had been the only constant in Jeans so far unstable and inconsistent life… it was why Hank believed she'd latched onto him with such vivacious curiosity during which time Xavier had written to Hank and told him that Logan had first turned up at the mansion, when she'd previously been so happily involved with Scott. But from that natural curiosity the love between them had eventually blossomed, much deeper and more meaningful than anything she'd ever experienced in her life before, and Hank got the impression that she might need an understanding shoulder to cry on before their ordeal was finally over yet.


	37. Chapter 37

**Chapter 36**

Two days later Logan found himself laid out on yet another operating table, prepped and readied for surgery – only this time he realised that it really was the last haul. Hank had seen it fit to implant a small catheter in the back of one of his hands to try and help minimise his patient's distress by the need of any further needles – and after the initial rigmarole of trying to get the tiny tube in place – the sharp pinch the likes of which could be compared to a pneumatic drill boring it's way through flesh and bone – as the doctor had tried to find a suitable vein amongst Logan's web of metallic skeleton, their attempts at the usually simple procedure had finally proved successful.

Hank now smiled down at him, readily scrubbed up – the scene could have easily been compared to that of some sort of bizarre horror movie Logan thought to himself, if it wasn't for the fact that he could still easily recognise his hairy friend beneath his uniform of sterile scrubs and mask, and that he realised deep down that the only thing he now had to be vaguely fearful of was the unknown of the procedure ahead – but Logan realised by now, and was reassured no end by the fact that he knew he was in the best possible hands, and looked up into the kindly eyes of the man who was about to operate on him.

"Ready Logan?" The doctor asked, and Jean wiped the nervous perspiration away from her lover's forehead and cheeks – Hank had eventually found her in the kitchen, preparing dinner for the students the evening before and the two had shared a rather heartfelt conversation, during which a distraught Jean had spent almost an hour sobbing into her long-time friend's warm shoulder before bravely wiping her eyes and resolving to carry on with the same steely determination she'd exhibited throughout this whole upsetting scenario. She'd needed someone to hold her, and some time alone to just be herself and allow her own emotions to take first president for a while, but now Logan needed her again, and she had finally been able to return to his side, pushing him on through every long and agonising step of his painful recovery, feeling stronger than ever – thanks to Hank. Logan nodded.

"Right then." Hank smiled reassuringly with this. "You know the drill now Logan… shall we begin?"

Logan flinched slightly as he felt the by now familiar cold of the heavy mask being placed over his mouth and nose, suffocating slightly, but Jean looked down and smiled at him from her position as she currently leaned over him – although her eyes looked scared and anxious, and he winked at her reassuringly.

His hypersensitive hearing heard Hank as he popped the cap off a large empty syringe, and he noticed out of the corner of his eye as the doctor filled it with the same, familiar, thick white and milky liquid of before, before approaching to the right hand side of the bed.

"Alright Logan?" He asked.

Logan looked at him and nodded – the pair exchanging a small, mutual smile as their eyes met, and the kindly doctor patted him reassuringly on the shoulder.

"It'll all be over soon." He promised, and Logan felt the familiar, hot sensation as he gently emptied the first half of the syringe's milky contents into the catheter in the back of his hand, and the world began to blur slightly at the edges. "Right then Logan…" Hank smiled. "I need you to start counting down from 10 for me please."

"10…" Logan murmured – already beginning to feel slightly drowsy. "9… 8… 7…" He groaned slightly as his right arm suddenly began to do numb… the loss of sensation suddenly spreading through his entire body as his vision started to blur. His eyelids were by now also becoming heavy.

He looked up at Jean and tried to smile, but found to his split second alarm that he no longer seemed to have any control over any of his bodily functions – he's entire body suddenly felt too heavy – before he finally relaxed into the intoxicating lure of sleep.

"6…5…4…4…4…3…"

…and then everything went black as Logan knew no more.


	38. Chapter 38

**Epilogue**

**Well here it is, the FINAL chapter! I know I said that there would be at least one more before this, but it just didn't work with the rest of the story so I cut it! I still can't quite believe that I've finished it, I know I try to complete all of my stories but there was a time I doubted that I might because it was just soooooo long! But here you are! I'd like to say a big THANK YOU to everyone who stuck with this from the very beginning, especially those original readers back from it's original publication in 2007, before it was removed and revamped. I hope you've enjoyed it as much as I've enjoyed writing it! Now I have just one last favour to ask of you all, well two: first to enjoy what you read and make the most of it, and secondly to submit a ****REVIEW**** for one final time, and if you could find it in yourselves to check out some of my other stories I would love you all forever! Thank you!**

Three weeks later Logan yet again found himself in the bowls of the mansion – only this time making his way in the direction of the Danger Room, which had been strictly out of bounds to him during the period of his recuperation. He was now feeling better than he'd felt in several months – following the surgery to drain the infected fluid away from the tissue surrounding the outside lining of his heart, the rate of his recovery had improved almost overnight, but it had still been a long and painful past three weeks during which it had seemed that any vaguely physically exerting activity had been off limits to him. Three uneventful weeks of nothing more than complete rest and relaxation.

Hank had explained that Logan had probably been ailing with the bacteria which had eventually caused his infection for quite some time. The nature of his mutation had masked many of the early symptoms, and had had the effect of preventing the pericardial effusion from developing too rapidly, but the continuous cycle of slowly succumbing to sickness only to only partially recover again had put a significant amount of strain on his healing abilities, weakening his body's natural ability to heal itself until it had ceased to function completely.

Even now he still bore some of the lingering effects of the sickness which had almost claimed his life – he tired easily, and was still on anti-inflammatorys to help with the lingering pain, and a pretty high dose of anti-biotics to combat any residual infection – but the drugs all had rather a few unfortunate side effects of their own, and he'd felt rather groggy for the first few days

As he entered the Danger Room, making his way slowly over to the main control panel, and making the relevant adjustments to his chosen session – a relatively low impact session compared to what he was used to – he heard the electronic door slide open behind him however, and turned to observe as Hank entered.

"Well I see that my services are no longer required." The blue mutant chuckled, smiling warmly as he approached. "I thought I might find you down here."

"I'm sorry Blue." Logan winced with the slight embarrassment at being caught out cheating with his advised recovery period – he was still supposed to be resting, but as his condition had continued to improve and he'd started to feel a little better, growing in strength as each day had passed, the restlessness had already started to set in. "I couldn't stand being cooped up a moment longer." He explained, but the kindly doctor simply smiled and nodded.

"You might not have to be." Hank sighed. "I suppose we must look upon this as a good sign – a few weeks ago you barely had strength enough to get out of bed, let alone even contemplate a session in the Danger Room – but you still need to take it easy, at this stage in your recovery even a minor injury or sign of sickness could put you right back at square one."

He produced a stethoscope, carefully concealed within the depths of his pocket, and held it up to Logan.

"Do you mind?" He asked.

Logan sighed, but didn't appear to object. Instead, he nodded, already stripping off his leather jacket and t-shirt in order for Hank to inspect his torso.

"I just want to make sure that you're not over exerting yourself too soon." The kindly doctor explained as he placed the tiny metal plate to Logan's chest – listening intently.

Logan took a few deep breaths in, releasing them again heavily upon Hank's instruction, shivering as the small, metal disk explored his warm torso and back thoroughly until the doctor finally withdrew the implement, appearing fairly satisfied with what he heard, and threw the stethoscope around his neck.

"Well," He smiled, "your lungs sound clear and relatively healthy all things considered, and there's no sign of any arrhythmia or tachycardia." He explained. "Your scars have healed nicely." He added, palpating the area of Logan's abdomen and chest with gentle fingers and watching him grimace slightly as the tender scar tissue throbbed painfully beneath his touch – but the doctor wasn't too concerned by this, he was likely to still feel sore for a good while yet, even after the initial injuries had long since healed.

"Just don't go overdoing it." He advised.

Logan looked at him and nodded, throwing his leather jacket, shirt and trousers into a corner, preparing to change into the trade mark all-in-one sports suit – as he did so Hank noticed him grimace and rub his still sore stomach gingerly however.

"Are you alright Logan?" He asked with a frown.

Logan nodded, but his gaze still appeared somewhat distant, and Hank could tell that he was contemplating something for a moment. Finally he turned back to face him, evidently having come to a conclusion.

"Maybe it's still a little too soon." He sighed heavily to himself – and the doctor could tell that although he was very much improved he was still in pain, and still had a long way to go. It made the fact that he had to leave soon all the more difficult – but knew that he would be leaving him in Jean's very capable hands, and his life was no longer in any immediate danger. "I don't think I'm quite ready for this after all."

"Only you will know when it's the right time for you to start resuming your life as normal again Logan." He nodded, with a sympathetic smile "But there's no hurry, take your time, and don't push yourself whilst it's still too soon."

"Thank you Hank." Logan smiled.

"I suppose you've heard that I'm leaving later on today?" He asked, and the other man nodded. "I'm afraid that I'm required to return to Government as soon as possible, but I'll still be keeping an eye on you… I've made arrangements to check in with Charles on a regular basis, so I'll know if anything's not right."

The two exchanged a mutual smile with this and Hank offered Logan a comforting and reassuring wink as the suffering mutant proceeded to retrieve his clothes from the corner of the room and change back into his shirt, trousers, and leather jacket.

"Just promise me one thing Logan," Hank asked, "you're not out of the woods yet, your body is still weak, and although you might be feeling better you still need time to fully recover. Promise me that you won't let anything like this happen again! You're not on your own anymore, you have friends here who care about you, a wonderful woman in Jean who loves you very much, if something's not right and you feel that there's something wrong in the future, don't keep it to yourself, tell someone, let somebody in! Promise me?"

"I promise." Logan smiled.

Hank nodded, finally content that his friend was telling the truth. He'd learnt a valuable lesson which would serve him well over the past few recent weeks, he was not invincible, and he's finally come to accept that there really were people who cared about him.

"Hey Blue," Logan hailed the doctor as he turned to leave, a pleasant smile curling the corners of his mouth as Hank turned back to face him, "I really am eternally grateful for what you've done. You saved my life! My past has been a troubled one, and I have quite a few demons that I need to work though, I know that, but I'll never forget what you've done for me! Thank you."

"Don't mention it." Hank smiled.


End file.
